President Donald Trump defended some of his more controversial recent decisions, such as firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while distancing himself from past choices he’s grown unhappy with, such as hiring Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, in a lengthy interview with CNBC on Tuesday morning.
Phoning in to Squawk Box, Trump spoke at length about his economic record nearly seven months into his second term – maintaining that several members of his administration, whom Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with, were “highly political.”
That includes Powell, the Fed chair whom Trump first selected to oversee the independent central banking entity in 2018. Despite choosing him seven years ago, Trump has lashed out at Powell for not cutting interest rates quickly enough – bestowing the nickname “Too Late” on Powell.
“Jay Powell is highly political,” Trump told Squawk Box while asserting that he hired Powell initially because a former employee liked him.
“Somebody that worked for me was a big fan of his – not a fan of his, he hardly knew him, but he wanted him so badly I did somebody a favor I put him in there. No, he’s too late. He’s too late. That name will stick to him forever,” Trump claimed.
Trump has said he would like to replace Powell, but the president does not have the authority to fire the Fed chair.
When pressed about who could replace Powell, Trump indicated four people were on his short list: his Director of the Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, Federal Reserve Board member, Kevin Warsh, and two other unnamed people.
But the president’s recent decision to fire Erika McEntarfer, the former head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a strong indication that given the authority, the president would fire those who do not do as he says.
Last week, Trump suddenly fired McEntarfer after the bureau reported poor job numbers. Trump has made the unsubstantiated claim that McEntarfer “rigged” the numbers to make him look bad.
The president continued to maintain that on Tuesday, even as Squawk Box co-host Joe Kernen firmly pushed back on Trump’s claims. Kernen said the president’s decision could “undermine” the public’s confidence in the bureau’s statistics.
“Give me a break,” Trump said.
“It’s a highly political situation, it’s totally rigged. Smart people know it. People with common sense know it,” Trump insisted.
So far, there has been no evidence that McEntarfer may have manually manipulated the jobs numbers.
Over the weekend, several members of the Trump administration defended Trump’s decision to fire McEntarfer but did not specifically repeat the president’s claim that job numbers were manipulated.
Trump tried to support his claim, on Tuesday, by pointing to poor polling numbers that inaccurately predicted the results of the 2024 presidential election as well as past revisions conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The bureau conducts revisions on job numbers often; it is a normal part of its process to ensure statistics are as accurate as possible – a fact that Kernen reiterated to the president.
