By Ahmed Aboulenein, Julie Steenhuysen and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House withdrew President Donald Trump's nomination of former Republican congressman and vaccine critic Dave Weldon to serve as director of the U.

“Dave Weldon is anti-vaccine, anti-woman, and anti-science. He was not qualified to serve as CDC director,” said Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee in the House.

Weldon was told Wednesday night that his nomination was being withdrawn, another Trump administration official said. The White House decided to pull Weldon’s nomination when it became clear that he would not have the votes to be favorably reported out of committee because of his past controversial comments about vaccines, the official said.