The White House announced Wednesday that it will withdraw the nomination of Sam Fox, a GOP donor, to be ambassador to Belgium — 30 minutes before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations was scheduled to vote on it.

During the confirmation process, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) had grilled Fox over his contributions to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

When Fox came before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry questioned him at length on a $50,000 donation Fox made to the group, which attacked the senator during the 2004 presidential campaign. Many people believe that Kerry’s chances of winning the election were hurt when he did not respond forcefully enough to the group’s ads. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’s activities were disavowed by members of both parties as a smear campaign directed at Kerry.

“I gave away $50,000 because I was asked to,” Fox said at the Feb. 27 hearing. The White House in its statement did not provide a reason for the withdrawal.

“Sam Fox had every opportunity to disavow the politics of personal destruction and to embrace the truth. He chose not to, ” Kerry said following the withdrawal.  “The White House made the right decision to withdraw the nomination. I hope this signals a new day in political discourse.”