WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) - President Donald Trump is standing by a high-profile firing, removing the head of the federal agency that reports monthly jobs numbers. This comes after new data showed that hiring in July slowed significantly.

President Trump says the firing was about leadership and accountability, but critics worry it sets a dangerous precedent, especially when it comes to the independence of government data.

"We'll be announcing a new statistician sometime over the next 3, 4 days. We had no confidence,” said Trump.

The firing comes just after the latest report showed hiring slowed dramatically in July and job gains from earlier this summer were revised down by tens of thousands.

The president's allies on Capitol Hill support the move.

"I think that president has been very big

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