Washington, D.C. [US], August 4 (ANI): U.S. President Donald Trump has defended his decision to fire Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer following a disappointing jobs report, claiming she was responsible for “the biggest miscalculations in over 50 years,” The Hill reported.
Posting on Truth Social on Sunday (local time), Trump alleged that McEntarfer had manipulated job data during critical political periods.
“She did the same thing just before the Presidential Election, when she lifted the numbers for jobs to an all-time high. I then won the Election, anyway, and she readjusted the numbers downward, calling it a mistake, of almost one million jobs. A SCAM!” Trump wrote.
The firing came just hours after the Labor Department announced that the U.S. economy added only 73,000 jobs in July—well below economists’ expectations. The department also issued major downward revisions for May and June, revealing 258,000 fewer jobs than initially reported.
The Trump administration stood by the dismissal, arguing that McEntarfer’s leadership had compromised the integrity of federal labor data.
“She did it again, with another massive ‘correction,’ and got FIRED!” Trump added.
However, the decision sparked immediate backlash on Capitol Hill. Democratic lawmakers criticized the move as a political scapegoating of a nonpartisan official.
“Just absolutely insane, absolutely nuts. The economy is tanking and he’s terrified and he’s acting like a dictator,” said Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), according to The Hill.
Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) was equally blunt: “That’s some weird Soviet s—. Blaming the messenger? Nothing’s ever his fault.”
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers also weighed in, calling Trump’s accusations “preposterous” and defending the BLS’s data collection process.
“There’s no conceivable way that the head of the BLS could have manipulated this number,” Summers said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“The numbers are in line with what we’re seeing from all kinds of private sector sources.” He added that he was “surprised that other officials have not responded by resigning themselves.”
Former BLS Commissioner William Beach also voiced concern, warning that the move could set a dangerous precedent.
“It undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau,” he told The Hill.
McEntarfer, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by a GOP-controlled Senate in an 86–8 vote early last year, had been overseeing data collection related to labor, wage growth, and inflation.
Defending Trump’s decision, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Meet the Press, “The president wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers, they’re more transparent and more reliable.” (ANI)
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