President Donald Trump said he plans to nominate E.J. Antoni, the chief economist at the Trump-aligned Heritage Foundation and a longtime critic of the Bureau of Labor and Statics, to lead the agency.
“Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE,” Trump wrote Monday evening on Truth Social. “I know E.J. Antoni will do an incredible job in this new role. Congratulations E.J.!”
Antoni’s nomination comes less than a week after Trump fired the agency’s former commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, just hours after it reported that job growth in the U.S. had slowed to a near halt.
In the Truth Social post announcing her firing, Trump said McEntarfer had “faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory” and pledged to replace her “with someone much more competent and qualified.”
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The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that the Trump administration was meeting with Antoni, as well as several other candidates.
Antoni, who has long been against the way the BLS collects data for its regular jobs reports, wrote critically of the agency as recently as last week.
“There are better ways to collect, process, and disseminate data—that is the task for the next BLS commissioner, and only consistent delivery of accurate data in a timely manner will rebuild the trust that has been lost over the last several years,” Antoni wrote on X.
He was also a contributor to the controversial Project 2025, which provided a blueprint for Trump’s second presidency that he has largely followed.
Antoni has at least one high-profile backer in his corner with a deep knowledge of Trumpworld: Steve Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist during Trump’s first term.
“E.J. Antoni as the new head of Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s what we’re pushing. He’s the guy that almost single-handedly took it down by going through their numbers,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast last week.
It remains unclear whether Bannon helped Antoni get the job, but he was on Bannon’s show criticizing the BLS just hours before Trump fired McEntarfer and said she was manipulating the agency’s reports to help Democrats.
Antoni will require Senate confirmation before officially assuming the role.
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