‘It undermines credibility': Former BLS chief slams Trump for firing his successor over jobs report
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NBC News
a few seconds ago
- NBC News
How Trump is reshaping government data
Meteorological data collected by some weather balloons has been halted. Statistics for HIV among transgender people were scrubbed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website. And basic public figures, like how many people work for the federal government, have been frozen or delayed for months. Across the federal government, President Donald Trump has been wielding his influence over data used by researchers, economists and scientists, an effort that was playing out largely behind the scenes until Friday, when he fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The agency collects and publishes economic data, and Trump accused its former chief, Erika McEntarfer, of giving fake employment data last week showing a recent slowdown in the labor market. "The numbers were rigged. Biden wasn't doing well, he was doing poorly," Trump said in an interview on CNBC Tuesday, referring to the jobs numbers. Presidents of both political parties often seek to spin government data to their benefit, cherry-picking numbers that put their agendas in the best light possible. But McEntarfer's firing has drawn criticism from economists, Wall Street investors and even Republicans who are raising wider concerns about the continued reliability of government data once seen as the gold standard. 'We have to look somewhere for objective statistics. When the people providing the statistics are fired, it makes it much harder to make judgments that, you know, the statistics won't be politicized,' Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in an interview. 'You can't really make the numbers different or better by firing the people doing the counting.' William Beach, whom Trump nominated for BLS commissioner in the last half of his first term, said in an interview with NBC News that the commissioner has no control over the results of the jobs report, which is compiled by a group of economists and statisticians. The commissioner doesn't see the data until it is locked into the system several days before its release, Beach said. "It's not currently possible for the commissioner to rig the data," he said. Trump has a history of seeking to distort hard numbers. In 2019, during his first term, he showed off a doctored hurricane model that included a Sharpie-like black swipe that made Alabama seem to be in Hurricane Dorian's path — when it wasn't. As the Covid-19 pandemic raged, Trump bemoaned how testing made the United States look as though it had more cases than other countries. 'Think of this: If we didn't do testing, instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing, we would have half the cases,' he said at a news conference at the White House. 'If we did another, you cut that in half; we would have, yet again, half of that. But the headlines are always 'testing.'' And the final days of his first term in office were spent refusing to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, claiming falsely that there had been widespread voter fraud in his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. In his second term, the administration's efforts to target or control government data appear to be growing. After buyouts and staffing cuts, the National Weather Service stopped some of its weather balloon releases beginning in February, a measure that independent meteorologists say has left data gaps that have degraded forecasts. This spring, the National Centers for Environmental Information announced it would no longer track billion-dollar weather and climate disasters, something it had done since 1980. The administration also shuttered the National Climate Assessment's website in July after it told hundreds of volunteer scientists who were working on its 2027 report that it no longer needed them and ended funding for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which had coordinated work on the federal report. The White House denied any effort to control data. 'President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in history,' said White House spokesman Kush Desai. 'Not only has the administration continued to share the data that's critical for policymakers, businesses, researchers, and everyday Americans, but we have taken historic steps to improve the reliability and accuracy of that data by re-examining how it's collected and distributed.' The White House said the NWS never lost confidence in weather model accuracy, and that the agency is looking at ways to improve the efficiency of weather balloon data collection and new satellite technology to improve forecasting models. The NWS continues to launch weather balloons daily, it said. In the CNBC interview Tuesday, Trump contradicted some data put out by his own government. He said that prices were falling — despite numbers released by the BLS last week showing inflation picking up in June. He said a gallon of gas was down to $2.20; the average price for a gallon of gas is $3.14, slightly up since when Trump entered office though lower than it was at this time a year ago, according to Energy Department data. Trump provided no evidence Friday that any data had been rigged when he fired McEntarfer hours after a government report showed that hiring had slowed significantly, making a revision to the number of jobs added over the previous two months. It isn't uncommon for the agency to revise numbers downward, but the revision last week was the largest since the start of the pandemic. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has cut back on some data collection because of staffing issues. The agency has twice reduced the sample collection areas across the country for the monthly inflation report, suspending data collection entirely in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Provo, Utah. In July, it suspended data collection by roughly 15% across the 72 other areas. The reasoning was to 'align survey workload with resource levels.' The White House attributed these changes to the recently fired commissioner and said the Department of Labor only learned of these changes in the press. The Department of Labor, which oversees BLS, has been working to address staffing and other issues affecting data collection, it said. Economic officials in past administrations of both political parties have said improvements in government collection of data are needed because of budget cuts and falling response rates to government surveys. But they said there are no indications the BLS commissioner could be involved in changing the numbers for political purposes. Stephen Moore, a former Trump campaign adviser on economic issues, agreed with Trump's decision to replace McEntarfer and said he hopes a new leader could improve the accuracy of employment data. 'There's no doubt that since Covid, the job numbers have become more and more imprecise,' he said, citing a drop-off in survey response rates by the public and employers. But he doubted whether the poor job numbers were politically motivated — something Trump and his top economic adviser have alleged. 'It might be true, but there's no real evidence of that,' Moore said. The deputy commissioner of BLS, Bill Wiatrowski, who took up the role during the Obama administration, will become the acting chief while Trump looks for a replacement, who will have to be confirmed by the Senate. Other types of federal data haven't been updated for months. Immigration and Customs Enforcement used to provide a data dashboard of arrests, detentions and deportations, but it hasn't updated it since December. The White House said the Department of Homeland Security has been regularly putting out information on immigration enforcement actions by press release, in media appearances by top officials and on social media. A dataset that tracks how many people work for the federal government, broken down by gender, age and average salary, had been updated quarterly for decades until January, when it froze for months, making it difficult to understand how many people work in the federal government and what the impact of cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency have been. The first-quarter data was eventually published last month, four months late. Across public health agencies, the administration has been removing data, limiting data collection and sometimes issuing guidance that contradicts their own data — affecting not just government decision-making but also the ability for outside medical researchers, public health departments and doctors to give the best advice to patients and the public. 'The consequences from a health perspective to the loss of data will be severe,' said Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC and current president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonprofit health foundation. 'If you can't trust the CDC's website, where can people go for that critical health information? That's the key question, and unfortunately, I don't have a good answer. And that worries me greatly.' The CDC scrubbed a swath of HIV-related content from its website in January to comply with Trump's executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion, while continuing to put out total HIV statistics. It also temporarily withheld two weekly reports on bird flu that had been scheduled to be published Jan. 23 though the data was eventually released. In April, Reuters reported that, because of staffing cuts, the Consumer Product Safety Commission would stop collecting data via the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System about injuries from motor vehicle crashes, falls, alcohol, adverse drug effects, aircraft incidents and work-related incidents. Trump's embrace of government data can depend on which way it's trending. Several months ago, he was quick to herald the labor statistics when they were more favorable. 'GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT'S ALREADY WORKING. HANG TOUGH, WE CAN'T LOSE!!!' he wrote on social media when the number of jobs added in March exceeded expectations.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hegseth ‘has great jeans': Defense Department taps into MAGA's obsession over Sydney Sweeney ad
The Department of Defense tapped into the MAGA movement's obsession with the American Eagle advertising campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney on Monday afternoon, as it shared an image of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's outfit with the caption: '@secdef has great jeans.' Sweeney has faced criticism for the ad campaign, which critics have argued includes racist messaging, provoking outrage from the right in response. Even President Donald Trump jumped into the fray, praising the ad after it was reported that Sweeney is a registered Republican in Florida. Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Vice President JD Vance have also made statements in support of Sweeney. The president addressed reporters on the runway in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Sunday night. 'She's a registered Republican?' Trump asked. 'Now I love her ad.' Trump took to Truth Social on Monday morning to say that 'Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the 'HOTTEST' ad out there.' 'It's for American Eagle, and the jeans are 'flying off the shelves,'' he claimed. Critics of the American Eagle ad campaign have accused the company of spreading 'racist' and 'Nazi propaganda.' Some have argued that it pushes eugenic ideals with its wordplay on 'jeans' and 'genes.' Some of those slamming the ad campaign have argued that the two phrases harken back to the debunked racist theory pushed by the Nazis that the human race can be improved via selective breeding. 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,' Sweeney says in one of the ads. 'My jeans are blue,' she adds, before a narrator says, 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.' ''Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans,' American Eagle said in response to the criticism. 'Her jeans. Her story.' 'We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,' the statement added. 'Great jeans look good on everyone.' The tweet by the Department of Defense featuring the jeans-clad Secretary of Defense faced mockery on X. 'We're not a serious country anymore,' the group Republicans Against Trump wrote. 'Hey parents, I know your son or daughter maybe in harm's way and doing a lethal job, but triggering the libs is our ultimate goal here at DOD,' said former Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger. 'He'll tell you all about them, along with America's top secret attack plans, on a signal group chat,' said Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark. 'I just want a serious government—and particularly a serious Department of Defense—that doesn't waste time or energy shilling for the egos of its leadership with glam shots like this. Don't you? Surely this isn't an unreasonable expectation,' said Heath Mayo, founder of Principles First. Former CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr asked, 'Is this what the Pentagon thought was important today?'
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ohio Senate race among those to watch in 2026 election
President Donald Trump's agenda in the second half of his second term will hinge on whether Republicans can maintain control of Congress in next year's midterm elections. Ohio's Senate race could be a player in deciding which party controls the chamber. In the Senate, where the GOP has a slim 53-47 majority, being the party in charge is vital for the president and his ability to pass key legislation priorities and confirm nominees, including any potential Supreme Court vacancies. Get The Scoop: Sign up for our weekly Ohio politics newsletter Heading into 2026, congressional Republicans look to keep their legislative advantage but face the challenge of precedent. Often, the party that does not hold the White House fares better in midterm congressional elections. The Buckeye State represents one of Democrats' few pickup opportunities, and even then it will not be an easy flip. Republican Sen. Jon Husted was picked by Ohio's governor to fill the seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance at the start of the year, and Husted will be on the ballot next November to keep his spot. Husted has a long history in Ohio politics having served as lieutenant governor, secretary of state, speaker of the House and a state senator. Ohio has become reliably Republican in recent years, making the fight to flip it tough for Democrats. Democrats' best shot probably is former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost his bid for reelection last year to Sen. Bernie Moreno. In 2024, Moreno defeated Brown by less that four percentage points in the same election where Trump defeated Kamala Harris by more than 11 in Ohio. However, Trump is not on the ballot himself next year. During the midterm election in Trump's first term in 2018, Brown won reelection despite a Republican sweep of nonjudicial statewide races. Brown was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and also reelected in 2012. Brown previously served as a congressman, Ohio secretary of state and as a state lawmaker. The race between Brown and Moreno set a record as the most expensive non-presidential election in U.S. history with both sides spending more than $470 million total. In March, Brown announced he was forming a nonprofit that aims to highlight the plight of workers and push Republicans and Democrats to enact policies that benefit them. Axios reported that Brown met with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in late July as part of the top Senate Democrat's efforts to lobby Brown to run again. Brown has also been named as a possible candidate for Ohio governor. Gov. Mike DeWine cannot run again due to term limits. Here are the other Senate races to watch across the country heading into the 2026 midterm elections. Open race in North Carolina set to be one of the most competitive North Carolina's two-term senior senator, Republican Thom Tillis, announced in June that he would not be seeking reelection. Already a top target for the Democrats, the North Carolina race was set to be one of the most competitive Senate battles in 2026, even with Tillis on the ballot. Now, the open seat has attracted high-profile contenders on both sides of the aisle. Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, announced his campaign formally on July 28 after weeks of speculation. On the Republican side, Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said she considered jumping in. But after she announced July 24 that she would not run for the seat, President Trump gave his backing to Republican National Committee chair and former North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley. Retirement makes Michigan Senate race a toss-up In Michigan, another retiring incumbent has set the stage for a toss-up race next year. Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, announced in January that he would not seek a third term. Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman with Trump's endorsement, is his party's expected nominee. Rogers ran in 2024 and lost narrowly to Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin. Among Democrats, Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow lead the pack of 2026 candidates. Republicans target Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia Georgia's Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff must fend off a pack of conservative lawmakers to hang on to his seat in 2026. Alongside fellow Georgia Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock, Ossoff won a runnoff election in January 2021 that secured him a first term in Congress and his party a chamber majority. Republicans looking to unseat him include Rep. Buddy Carter, a former pharmacist who represents the Savannah area. Carter was first to throw his red hat in the ring. But others, including Rep. Mike Collins, have since joined the contest. Carter and Collins are coveting Trump's support, an endorsement that could carry weight with Georgia's deep-red electorate pockets. GOP Senate primary race in Texas could shake things up Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn stands a good chance of winning a fifth term against a Democratic challenger next November in the red-leaning Lone Star State. But first, he must make it through what is promising to be a tough primary against the state's attorney general, Ken Paxton. Cornyn has served in the Senate since 2002, but early polls showed him down double digits to Paxton. More: Texas AG Ken Paxton's wife files for divorce 'on biblical grounds' National Republicans have expressed concern that Paxton, who has faced indictments, impeachment and, more recently, a very public divorce, could cost the GOP their safely held Texas seat in a general election. Democrat and former Rep. Colin Allred, who ran unsuccessfully against Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024, has announced his campaign for 2026. Texas state Rep. James Talarico has said he is 'seriously considering' a run as well. Sen. Lindsey Graham facing GOP primary in South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, has also drawn a GOP challenger in his 2026 bid for reelection. Paul Dans, the original author of Project 2025, a sweeping conservative agenda to overhaul the federal government, announced his candidacy at an event in Charleston July 30. The primary contest will likely pit MAGA voters in the Palmetto State against one another. Though Graham has been a regular target of criticism from Trump − displeased by the lawmaker at times breaking from the GOP leader − he is now an ally to the president and has already received Trump's 'complete and total endorsement.' Dans' primary challenge will be an uphill battle. Should Graham come out on top, he is heavily favored to win a fifth term. A pack of Democrats are vying to face Graham or Dans in the general, though South Carolina is generally considered a safely red seat. Democrats see chance to pick up Maine Senate seat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is about to wrap her fifth term in the Senate, and while she has yet to formally announce her bid for reelection, many colleagues expect her to run again. Her position as one of the upper chamber's most independent voices has kept her in favor, and in office, with her left-leaning state, though Democrats still see this upcoming race as one of their top pickup opportunities if two-term Gov. Janet Mills decides to run. Collins has garnered a reputation for being one of the few congressional Republicans willing to tell Trump no. She voted against two of his major legislative priorities this summer – a sweeping tax and spending bill, as well as a $9 billion cut to public broadcasting and foreign aid funding – and has openly criticized some of the president's nominees. Willingness to oppose Trump typically comes with the president's full public ire – and often a MAGA-aligned primary opponent. But Collins is the only Republican senator to have won a state in which Democrats won the popular vote in 2024. Her unique position seems to, at least for now, have kept Trump from speaking out against who many view as the GOP's best chance to keep their seat in Maine. Several Democratic candidates have announced campaigns against Collins, including David Costello, who ran unsuccessfully against Maine's Independent Sen. Angus King in 2024. All eyes are most focused on Mills, the state governor who has also tussled with Trump but hasn't yet said whether she will run. Minnesota senator retiring, but state likely to stay with Democrats Minnesota's Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced earlier this year that she plans to retire at the end of her term, calling the decision "entirely personal." With the state's blue tilt, Smith's seat has a good chance of staying in Democrats' hands. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Rep. Annie Craig are among the front-runners for their party's nomination. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' running mate, opted back in February not to run for the Senate. On the Republican side, former NBA player Royce White is running again after losing his bid against Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2024. Former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze has also announced his campaign for the GOP nomination. New Hampshire senator retiring creating open race Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire announced she would not be seeking another term in 2026 either. Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who launched his campaign in April, is widely seen as a strong contender to succeed Shaheen. Republican Scott Brown, a former Massachusetts senator and former ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa in Trump's first term, is among a handful of candidates competing on the GOP side. Like Minnesota, Cook Political Report has rated New Hampshire's race leaning Democrat. Iowa Senate seat likely to stay with GOP In Iowa, Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican, has the advantage, with Cook Political Report rating her race likely Republican. Three Democrats so far have launched bids in hopes of beating those odds: Nathan Sage, the former chamber of commerce director from Knoxville; state Rep. J.D. Scholten; and state Sen. Zach Wahls. Nebraska Senate race could be surprisingly competitive Nebraska is widely seen as a Republican stronghold with incumbent GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts, though there could be a surprisingly competitive race in 2026 with Independent candidate Dan Osborn jumping back into a statewide election. Osborn came within 7 percentage points of beating Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024, a closer-than-expected margin in the GOP-dominated state. Osborn, a former labor leader, is a registered Independent but received campaign contributions from Democrats in his last campaign (money he told NBC he did not ask for). Ricketts, a former Nebraska governor and part owner with his family of the Chicago Cubs, is running for a full term after being appointed to the job in January 2023 upon the resignation of Republican Sen. Ben Sasse. USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau Chief Anthony Shoemaker contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Ohio matter in 2026 race to control the US Senate?
