WASHINGTON − Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called President Donald Trump’s firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics chief “irresponsible” and likened his response to weaker-than-anticipated jobs numbers to “the action of a petulant child.”
The Trump ally turned critic said in an appearance on ABC News the firing was classic Trump.
“When he gets news he doesn’t like, he needs someone to blame because he won’t take the responsibility himself, and this is the action of a petulant child. Like, ‘You give me bad news, I fire the messenger,'” Christie told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos.
Trump ordered the removal of Erika McEntarfer, the U.S. commissioner of Labor Statistics, on Aug. 1 after the Labor Department said the U.S. economy added a mere 73,000 jobs in July. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised down totals for May and June by a combined 258,000 jobs.
The president accused McEntarfer, a 20-year veteran of the federal government appointed to the position by Biden, of politically driven data manipulation. He did not provide evidence for the charge.
Trump said she would be replaced by “someone much more competent and qualified” in a Truth Social post announcing the firing. “Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”
President Trump orders firing: Labor statistics chief removed after weak jobs report
He wrote in another post, “In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”
Christie invoked his eight years as New Jersey governor, and said in his experience, “it would be almost impossible for anyone to try to rig these numbers because so many people are involved in putting them together.”
“All she’s doing is being a conduit of the information,” he said. “So it’s irresponsible, from a position of facts, but it also shows you the way he manages.”
White House defends Labor Statistics chief’s firing
Trump economic advisers defended the president’s decision elsewhere on television, with National Economic Council chair Kevin Hassett arguing on NBC News that the bureau needs a “fresh set of eyes.”
“There have been a bunch of patterns that could make people wonder. And I think the most important thing for people to know is that it’s the president’s highest priority that the data be trusted and that people get to the bottom of why these revisions are so unreliable,” Hassett said on “Meet the Press.”
Trump also went on the attack, alleging in a post on Aug. 3 that McEntarfer “did the same thing just before” the 2024 presidential election − inflating and then revising down former President Joe Biden’s jobs numbers.
“I then won the Election, anyway, and she readjusted the numbers downward, calling it a mistake, of almost one million jobs. A SCAM!” he claimed.
Revisions to monthly estimates are common, and in December 2024, the Labor Department said 15,000 fewer jobs were created in the month of November than its initial estimate. BLS said 7,000 more jobs than it projected were created in October.
Trump appeared to be referencing an announcement BLS made in August 2024, three months before the election, when the agency reduced its estimate by 818,000 for jobs created between April 2023 and March 2024. It was the largest downgrade in 15 years.
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer did not repeat Trump’s claim that the data was “rigged” but argued that “there were enormous swings in the jobs numbers” during last year’s presidential campaign.
“And so it sounds to me like the president has real concerns,” he said in the interview that taped Aug. 1. “There are always revisions, but sometimes you see these revisions go in really extreme ways. And it’s, you know, the president is the president. He can choose who works in the executive branch.”
Trump told reporters later, as he prepared to return to Washington after a weekend at his New Jersey golf club, that he would be announcing a new statistician this week.
Contributing: Joey Garrison
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Christie likens Trump to ‘petulant child’ after jobs data firing
