White House sends 22 nominations to Senate and withdraws trade commission pick

The White House has sent 22 nominations to the US Senate, including Michael LoSapio to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Gregory Todd Butler to serve on a federal appeals court.

Butler was nominated to the Fifth Circuit, where Judge Leslie Southwick is retiring. LoSapio was nominated to succeed Jen Easterly, who resigned as director of the cybersecurity agency.

The nominations will need Senate approval. They follow Democratic victories in the 3 November midterm elections, which will give the party control of both chambers of Congress and the power to reject presidential nominees.

The White House also nominated Christopher Mufarrige to the Federal Trade Commission for a term beginning in September 2026, in the seat previously held by Alvaro Bedoya. At the same time, it withdrew David MacNeil’s nomination for a different seat on the commission, previously held by Melissa Holyoak. MacNeil’s nomination had been sent to the Senate in January.

The other nominations include four candidates for federal district judgeships and three for the District of Columbia Superior Court. Matthew Zandi was nominated to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, while Gary Lawkowski was put forward as general counsel to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The diplomatic nominees include Natalie Baker for ambassador to Pakistan, Jeffrey Colyer for the United Arab Emirates and Cynthia Kierscht for Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.