Trump White House Withdraws Nomination for Controversial BLS Pick After GOP Senators Decline to Meet With Him

President Donald Trump has withdrawn his controversial pick for Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner, E.J. Antoni, after it became apparent he did not have support from enough Republican senators.

Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) declined to meet with Antoni ahead of his not-yet-scheduled hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, on which both senators sit, according to a CNN report. It’s common for nominees to meet with staff of both parties on the HELP committee before their confirmation. So Collins’s and Murkowski’s refusal to sit down with Antoni meant trouble for the success of his candidacy. Antoni would have needed the support of every Republican senator on the HELP committee to be confirmed.

The about-face from the White House comes after a bevy of raised eyebrows and all-out alarm sounding from economists, researchers, and Democratic and more moderate Republican senators. They were first disturbed after Trump fired ex-BLS chief Erika McEntarfer following a federal jobs report showing a declining economy. Murkowski, along with GOP senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Rand Paul (R-KY) each expressed concern following McEntarfer’s firing.

When Trump nominated Antoni, economists across the political spectrum railed against the nominee as an under-experienced partisan hack. Antoni received his doctorate in economics just five years ago, and had limited published work.

Experts shuddered at suggestions from the conservative economist to halt the monthly jobs report and replace it with a less current survey, for example. 

But the death blow, perhaps, came after a CNN KFile report exposed Antoni as the owner of a now-deleted X account which posted racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually offensive and generally distasteful content.

Following the withdrawal, the White House in a statement praised Antoni and said Trump will announce a new nominee shortly, CNN reports.

“Dr EJ Antoni is a brilliant economist and an American patriot that will continue to do good work on behalf of our great country,” a White House official said. “President Trump is committed to fixing the longstanding failures at the BLS that have undermined the public’s trust in critical economic data.”

In a statement to CNN, Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, said Antoni will remain chief economist at the organization.

“It is undeniable that BLS needs reform and E.J. was the right man for the job,” Roberts said.

The BLS is currently being led by William J. Wiatrowski, the deputy commissioner, who is acting as interim commissioner.