What Trump put at risk when he fired the labor statistics chief for telling the truth

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What Trump put at risk when he fired the labor statistics chief for telling the truth One Democrat called Trump's ouster of Erika McEntarfer’s “the stuff of fascist dictatorships.” The consequences of the abuse will linger for a long while.

Aug. 4, 2025, 10:58 AM EDT

By Steve Benen

Even before last week, there were growing concerns about the Trump administration and the impact it was having on the integrity and reliability of federal economic data — but not for the expected reason. The concerns had less to do with corruption and partisan mischief and more to do with budget cuts.

The White House’s layoffs, buyouts and hiring freezes undermined federal economic statistics collection , leading to a Reuters report two weeks ago noting that many economic experts were