Donald Trump’s claims of election interference now involve the Labor Department. Just don’t ask his campaign for an explanation. Let’s back up: The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday that the number of jobs the economy added in the year ending March 31 was likely 818,000 less than what was reflected in the monthly reports during that period. That’s the largest revision in more than a decade. The torrid growth in non-farm payrolls has been a point of pride for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration, and the downward estimate suggests that the labor market was softening earlier than many had anticipated. That would be a political vulnerability for any incumbent. Trump had to navigate a similar challenge during his time in office when the BLS trimmed 514,000 jobs off the totals reported for the year ending March 31, 2019. But the Trump campaign on Wednesday didn’t limit its bombardment of Harris to the state of the labor market. Instead, it mounted an all-out assault on both the Biden administration and the Labor Department’s data-collection practices — claiming fraud, “cooking the books” and “election interference.” “The Harris-Biden Administration has been caught fraudulently manipulating Job Statistics to hide the true extent of the Economic Ruin they have inflicted upon America,” Trump posted on Truth Social. Of course, Trump often touted positive BLS data while in office — sometimes ahead of its official release. As for his new unfounded allegations, it’s hard to see the advantage Biden or Harris could have gained by manipulating BLS into releasing disappointing labor market revisions less than three months before Election Day. When asked by POLITICO how the data was manipulated, or how it constituted election interference, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in an email that “clearly it’s election interference by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to deceive the American people.” He did not respond to a request to elaborate. It’s not the first time Trump has sought to diminish the credibility of federal institutions or bureaucracies. He mounted similar attacks against BLS when he was supporting Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012, echoing former GE Chair Jack Welch’s claims that unemployment data had been manipulated to aid President Barack Obama. During his own presidency, Trump repeatedly hammered Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates quickly enough as the economy confronted major political headwinds. Near the end of his term, he sought to increase his administration’s control over federal agencies, stripping protections from career officials who make policy. BLS is a poster child for why those career officials are necessary, said Keith Hall, a former commissioner of the agency who was appointed by President George W. Bush. “They follow transparent standard procedures,” said Hall. “They're very transparent about things. The important part about this data is that it's usable, and people don't have to worry about whether somebody's making the data up or not.” Repeated claims that BLS data has been manipulated — or is otherwise fraudulent — could threaten its credibility over time. Employment reports are revised to provide accurate information that is critical to both policymakers and market participants. “It is mission critical for BLS and the other statistical agencies to have the trust of data users and data providers,” Erica Groshen, a senior economics adviser at Cornell University and former BLS commissioner, told MM. “It's a form of killing the messenger,” she added. “The biggest damage is if it makes people who should be paying attention to these numbers disregard them.” IT’S THURSDAY — Congratulations, you’ve almost survived the DNC. Next up, Jackson Hole. Your host, meanwhile, is headed to his annual fantasy football draft in South Jersey. If you’ve got tips or sleepers, send ‘em my way to ssutton@politico.com.
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