\n The White House has sent paperwork to the Senate to withdraw the nomination of E.J. Antoni as head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, three sources told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n The withdrawal comes after CNN\u2019s KFile<\/a> reported earlier this month that Antoni operated a since-deleted Twitter account that featured sexually degrading attacks on Kamala Harris, derogatory remarks about gay people, conspiracy theories, and crude insults aimed at critics of Trump.\n <\/p>\n \n A person familiar with the matter said GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski had declined to meet with Antoni, potentially raising concerns that his nomination was in trouble. CNN has reached out to the White House and Antoni.\n <\/p>\n \n Antoni positioned himself as a watchdog for government accountability in media appearances and Heritage Foundation blog posts. But his own digital trail revealed a pattern of incendiary rhetoric that veered frequently into conspiracy theories and misogyny, KFile reported. (In a statement at the time, the White House defended Antoni and did not address whether he still holds the beliefs he espoused on the account in question.)\n <\/p>\n \n Sen. Bill Cassidy \u2014 the Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has jurisdiction of the BLS nominee \u2014 would not directly answer if he had been told by the White House that Antoni\u2019s nomination was being withdrawn. But he noted to CNN on Tuesday night that Antoni\u2019s confirmation hearing had not officially been noticed \u2013 which is a sign a nomination is not moving forward.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf you just look at who we\u2019ve noticed, I think you\u2019ll know whether he\u2019s been pulled or not,\u201d he said, adding \u201ccorrect\u201d when asked if that meant the nomination had been pulled.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWell, you obviously notice people that you\u2019re sure you got the votes for,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump nominated Antoni in August<\/a> after firing the previous commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, whom he accused without evidence of rigging jobs data. The ouster came after the July jobs report showed weak growth that month, with significant downward revisions to the May and June reports.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s firing of McEntarfer, combined with his intrusions on the independence of the Federal Reserve, ramped up concerns about his politicization of US institutions<\/a> designed to provide reliable, non-partisan statistics.\n <\/p>\n \n Established in 1884<\/a>, BLS is an independently operated body<\/a> within the US Department of Labor. The labor secretary, a member of the president\u2019s Cabinet and has oversight of the BLS, but that agency is run by a Senate-confirmed commissioner.\n <\/p>\n \n The revisions that angered Trump were large, but they were not unprecedented in BLS history. May\u2019s jobs total was revised lower to 19,000, down from an initial estimate of 139,000 \u2014 a total revision of 120,000 jobs. For the June jobs total, the BLS said the US economy added just 14,000 jobs, down from a preliminary estimate of 147,000 \u2014 a revision of 133,000 jobs.\n <\/p>\n