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President Trump plans to nominate conservative economist E.J. Antoni to lead one of the government's top statistical agencies, ten days after firing the previous chief over a disappointing jobs report. 

Antoni is an economist at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation.  He previously worked for the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation.

"Our economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE," Trump wrote on a 

If confirmed by the Senate, Antoni would take control of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is responsible for producing the monthly jobs report as well as tracking inflation. 

Trump fired the previous commissioner of labor statistics, Erika McEntarfer, less than two weeks ago, after the bureau reported weaker than expected job gains for May, June and July. The president said the numbers were rigged to make him look bad — a claim that was 

widely dismissed by independent economists

The BLS post is typically held by apolitical technocrats who serve terms that span presidential administrations.  The choice of a partisan economist to oversee the bureau is likely to raise 

 about the reliability of market-moving government data. 

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President Trump plans to tap an economist from the conservative Heritage Foundation to oversee the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He fired the previous leader after a disappointing jobs report. 

Trump taps conservative economist to lead statistics agency

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