WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is withdrawing the nomination of E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to an AP source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the White House action, which hasn’t been publicly announced.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Senate received paperwork formally withdrawing Antoni’s nomination on Tuesday, the person said.

Antoni’s nomination, announced in August, was an attempt by Trump to gain greater control over the federal agency responsible for producing key economic data, including the monthly jobs report and consumer price index, which is used to measure inflation. The chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation was a major critic of the BLS. Yet most economists saw

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