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.

President Trump announced E.J. Antoni as his nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Monday, after he fired the former commissioner earlier this month and blamed her for a weaker-than-expected jobs report.