The data that caused President Donald Trump to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he did not like the July employment report, calling it "rigged," is being taken as serious evidence by Federal Reserve officials of a slowing economy and as a justification for the interest rate cuts Trump wants.

William Beach, who Stephen Moore calls a “good friend,” said Trump's numbers shared during his Oval Office presser were “the strangest thing in the world.”

US President Donald Trump has picked an economist at a conservative think tank to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), after firing its previous commissioner last week following weaker-than-expected jobs data.

E.J. Antoni, economist at the Heritage Foundation, has been critical of how the Bureau of Labor Statistics collects data.

President Donald Trump nominated Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. His nomination comes shortly after Trump fired former BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer,