by EuroNews AP
It’s published
According to White House officials, US President Donald Trump has withdrawn EJ Antoni’s nomination to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The reason for retracting the nomination has not been made clear, and the formula cited by the Associated Press simply pointed out that Antoni is a talented economist and President Donald Trump is planning to announce a new candidate soon.
The Senate received documents on Tuesday that officially retracted Antoni’s nomination.
Antoni’s nomination, released in August, was an attempt by Trump to better manage the federal agencies responsible for creating key economic data, including monthly employment reports and consumer price indexes used to measure inflation.
As the chief economist of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, he was a major critic of the BLS. However, most economists viewed him as an open partisan, warning that his basic misreading of recessions, import prices and other measures put him at the risk of leading federal agencies.
Antoni’s suitability concerns
Kyle Pomerlot, a tax expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote to X after Antoni’s appointment in August: “There are a lot of talented conservative economists who can do this job.
Kevin Roberts, president of Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action, said Antoni “continues to be one of the nation’s most keen economic minds,” and at BLS he was “the perfect person for the job.” However, the statement said Antoni will remain a conservative think tank instead of getting a job in the government.
Other details about Antoni have been revealed, raising concerns about his credibility as an economic scorekeeper. NBC News reported that Antoni was among the crowds outside the US Capitol during the January 6th rebellion of 2021. Observers discovered that the wall art behind Antoni during a television interview was the German battleship Bismarck, which was used by the Nazis in World War II.
Financial disclosures show Antoni has exceeded $495,000 (421,000 Euros) in his work with the Heritage Foundation, in addition to other payments for speech and consulting.
Trump’s quest to control economic decisions
Trump fired Erica Mantelfer as BLS commissioner on August 1 after the July 1 employment report showed a rapid slowdown in recruitment, with employment improvements in May and June being far lower than initially estimated.
The White House claims it wants accurate numbers after a series of downward revisions to the Jobs Report, but Trump has said on social media sites that the numbers are geared to undermine him politically.
In the four months when Trump first announced his country-by-country tariffs, employment profits averaged less than 27,000 a month. The slowdown was severe enough for the Federal Reserve in September to cut its benchmark rate in hopes of stabilizing the job market.
The White House also retracted Brian Kintenz’s appointment on Tuesday and joined the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as chairman.
White House officials have insisted anonymity to discuss the decision, calling it a trusted alliance called Quintenz, and said a new candidate will be released soon.
CNN first reported the withdrawal of Antoni’s nomination.