by Catherine Lucey
President Donald Trump said he will announce a new Federal Reserve governor and a new jobs data statistician in the coming days, two appointments that may shape his economic agenda amid anxiety over the trajectory of global growth.
Trump made the comments to reporters Sunday on his way back to the White House from a weekend in Bedminster, New Jersey. He has faced criticism for his relentless attacks on the Fed and for firing Bureau of Labor Statistics chief Erika McEntarfer after data showed weak jobs growth — moves that are seen as undermining institutions typically viewed as free from political influence.
For the Fed, the president said he has a “couple of people in mind” for the role that opened up after Adriana Kugler announced Friday that she would vacate her board of governors seat, which wasn’t due to expire until January. Her exit handed Trump a sooner-than-anticipated opportunity to appoint a governor who more closely aligns with his preference for lower interest rates.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, current Fed Governor Christopher Waller and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have all been floated as contenders to lead the central bank. Trump’s nominee for the open governorship could move into the chairman role when Jerome Powell’s term expires in May.
Kugler’s departure unfolds amid unprecedented public pressure from the White House on the central bank over interest rates, with Trump regularly launching personal insults at Powell. Trump has called the Fed chief “TOO ANGRY, TOO STUPID, & TOO POLITICAL” for persistently refusing to vote to lower rates, and he has demanded Powell’s resignation.
At the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Trump fired McEntarfer hours after a weak jobs report based in part on steep downward revisions for May and June. Her firing was criticized by her predecessor, who called it an unfounded move.
“This is damaging,” William Beach, whom Trump picked in his first term to head the bureau, said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “I don’t know that there’s any grounds at all for this firing.”
Studies indicate that the agency’s data is more accurate than 20 or 30 years ago, including any revisions of the initial data, Beach said. Even so, he said he’ll trust future BLS data because people working for the agency are “some of the most loyal Americans you can imagine,” making the bureau “the finest statistical agency in the entire world.”
McEntarfer was confirmed by the Senate in a bipartisan 86-8 vote. Vice President JD Vance, then a senator, voted to approve her nomination.
Hassett, speaking on Fox News Sunday and NBC’s Meet the Press alleged that the large jobs data revisions were poorly explained and were evidence enough for a “fresh set of eyes” at BLS.
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