President Obama's choice to lead the Transportation Security Administration Erroll Southers withdrew his name from nomination after weeks of questions about whether he gave misleading answers to Congress regarding a reprimand he got for running background checks on his then-estranged wife's boyfriend in the late 1980s.

Southers told senators that he asked a co-worker's husband who worked for the San Diego Police Department at the time to run a background check on his ex-wife's boyfriend.

But a day after the panel referred his nomination to the Senate, Southers told lawmakers that he twice conducted the database searches himself, downloaded confidential law enforcement records about the boyfriend and then passed the information on to the police department employee.

Southers statements about the background checks wasn't the only obstacle.

His nomination had been put on hold by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who has raised questions about whether Southers would allow TSA employees to join a labor union.