White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged Wednesday that the administration pulled the nomination of EJ Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics because of a lack of support in the Senate.

“It became clear that, unfortunately, he wouldn’t have the votes,” Ms. Leavitt said of Mr. Antoni.

Mr. Antoni was struggling to secure the support of moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, which could have blocked his confirmation. They were said to have concerns that Mr. Antoni had called for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to pause releasing bad employment data, something even former Trump administration economic advisers had cautioned against.

The White House pulled his nomination late Tuesday night.

President Trump nominated Mr. Antoni in August to serve in the position after ousting BLS chief Erika McEntarfer, following a weak jobs report. Mr. Antoni is a top economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

In a post on X, the Heritage Foundation confirmed that Mr. Antoni would return to his role as economist at the think tank.

“It is undeniable that BLS needs reform and @REALEJAntoni was the right man for the job. E.J. will keep calling for that reform and serving the interests of the American people from his invaluable role as chief economist at @Heritage,” Heritage President Kevin Roberts wrote.

A White House official in a statement called Mr. Antoni “a brilliant economist and an American patriot [who] will continue to do good work on behalf of our great country.” The official said the White House will be nominating a new candidate to lead the BLS “very soon.”  

Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Antoni after a BLS report found that the U.S. added only 73,000 jobs in July and revised previous reports to show fewer jobs were created in May and June than originally reported.

The president accused Ms. McEntarfer of falsifying the job numbers to make him look bad.

“I was just informed that our Country’s ’Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory,” Mr. Trump said on Truth Social.

The president said Mr. Antoni would “ensure that the numbers released are honest and accurate.”

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.