# E.J. Antoni **E.J. Antoni** is the [[Heritage Foundation]] chief economist whom [[Donald Trump]] nominated on **Aug. 11, 2025** to run the [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]]. Trump had fired commissioner [[Erika McEntarfer]] on Aug. 1 over a weak jobs report. The nomination was withdrawn seven weeks later. It never reached a committee vote, but it is the clearest statement of what the administration wanted from its statistical agencies. ## Background Antoni holds a Ph.D. in economics from Northern Illinois University. He became Heritage's chief economist in 2022, contributed to [[Project 2025]], and was a senior fellow at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, the group co-founded by Trump adviser [[Stephen Moore]]. His public profile came from Fox News op-eds, [[Steve Bannon]]'s podcast and a long record of social-media posts attacking government economic data. ## Why the nomination alarmed economists - **He proposed changing the product.** In a Fox Business interview after the nomination, Antoni suggested the BLS "suspend issuing the monthly job report" and publish quarterly data until the numbers became more reliable. Markets treat the monthly report as a core release, and the idea of the new chief halting it drew alarm from business economists as well as academics. - **He had spent years attacking the agency he was nominated to run.** He called its health-insurance figures "phoney baloney" and joked that "the 'L' is silent" in BLS. He urged [[DOGE]] to go after the bureau. - **Across the spectrum, economists said he wasn't qualified.** Harvard's Jason Furman called him an "extreme partisan" without the relevant expertise, and Michigan's Justin Wolfers called the pick "disastrously terrible." Moore defended him as the person to "fix" the BLS. - **Jan. 6.** Reporting placed him at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The White House described him as a "bystander." ## Withdrawal The White House withdrew the nomination on **Sept. 30, 2025**, without giving a reason, and called him a "brilliant economist." Antoni blamed "other elected officials who lack the courage to support this commonsense agenda." The seat stayed empty for another ten months. Career BLS statistician [[Brett Matsumoto]] was nominated in January 2026 and confirmed 51–47 on Aug. 7, 2026. ## Why he matters Antoni is the clearest evidence of intent in the [[BLS Data Integrity Crisis]]. The administration's first choice to replace a fired career statistician was a movement think-tank economist who had spent years discrediting the agency's numbers. The retreat to Matsumoto shows the limit of the pressure, not its absence. No public role for him after the withdrawal was verified for this page. ## See also - [[BLS Data Integrity Crisis]] · [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]] · [[Erika McEntarfer]] · [[Brett Matsumoto]] - [[The Politics of Official Statistics]]: statistical agencies as contested political infrastructure - [[Heritage Foundation]] · [[Project 2025]] · [[Economic Indicators Hub]]