February 14, 2026

Department of Labor

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hite House economic advisers on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, pushing back against criticism that Trump’s action could undermine confidence in official U.S. economic data.

Later on Sunday, Trump again criticized BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, without providing evidence of wrongdoing, and said he would name a new BLS commissioner in the next three or four days.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS that Trump had “real concerns” about the BLS data, while Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said the president “is right to call for new leadership.”

Hassett said on Fox News Sunday the main concern was Friday’s BLS report of net downward revisions showing 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in May and June than previously reported.

Trump accused McEntarfer of faking the jobs numbers, without providing any evidence of data manipulation. The BLS compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data.

The BLS gave no reason for the revised data but noted “monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.”

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White House Economic Adviser Kevin Hassett couldn’t offer any evidence that the Bureau of Statistics was involved in any nefarious actions with their jobs reports and admitted Trump just wants to put his own people in.

After the BLS issued the worst jobs report for years for July, Trump, in a fit of rage immediately fired Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Making Trump’s economy look even worse, the Bureau revised their jobs report for the last two months showing Demented Donald added 258,000 fewer jobs than initially reported.

Earlier in the interview, Hassett tried to claim the BLS numbers were propaganda, which is absurd.

WELKER: So is the president prepared to fire anyone who reports data that he disagrees with?

HASSETT: No, absolutely not. The president wants his own people there, so that when we see the numbers, they’re more transparent and more reliable.

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The shock and outrage over President Donald Trump firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner because of weak jobs numbers seems increasingly bipartisan.

Several Republican senators told NBC News that they did not support Trump’s firing of Erika McEntarfer if it was, in fact, motivated by his displeasure over the poor jobs numbers released on Friday. (All indications are that it was.) Democrats, meanwhile, said Trump’s latest move was the behavior of an authoritarian.

On Friday, Trump quickly claimed without any evidence that the revised jobs numbers, which showed weaker job growth in May and June than previously projected, had been “manipulated.” But experts on the work of the BLS, which is part of the Department of Labor, pushed back, saying Trump’s claim is not plausible.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who served in the Clinton administration, said on ABC’s This Week that Trump’s firing “is way beyond anything that Richard Nixon ever did.” Summers explained: “These numbers are put together by teams of literally hundreds of people following detailed procedures that are in manuals. There’s no conceivable way that the head of the BLS could have manipulated this number.”