New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman said Tuesday that President Trump “has convinced himself” that jobs data was manipulated for the 2024 presidential election.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead,” the anchor said, “in trying to justify his firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” the president “said that she gave out great jobs reports right before the election to help Harris and Biden and then revised it downward after.”
“That’s not true,” Tapper said in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.
“On the BLS issue. I think he has convinced himself that that is what happened, as you said, and as Joe Kernen said in real time, that was not true,” Haberman later responded.
Last Friday, Trump directed his team to fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the wake of a rough jobs report he blamed solely on the appointee of former President Biden.
The president said on Truth Social that the ex-commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, had falsified “the Jobs Numbers” prior to the 2024 election in order to support former Vice President Kamala Harris’s White House run.
Trump referenced labor statistics revisions under the Biden administration that boosted job numbers prior to the election. The jobs report released last week showed a notable downturn under the Trump administration in May and June.
“No one can be that wrong?” Trump said previously. “We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
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