Trump Fed pick Stephen Moore will withdraw candidacy if he becomes a political liability
If President Trump’s Federal Reserve board pick Stephen Moore became a political liability for the White House and Senate Republicans, he would withdraw from consideration, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The conservative economic analyst told the Journal during an interview that if “something I said or something I’ve done becomes a political problem” he would bow out from the nomination process.
“I don’t want to be a liability,” Moore told the Journal. “Why should we risk a Senate seat for a Federal Reserve board person, you know? I mean that just doesn’t make any sense.”
Moore came under fire this week for his past writings on women, including several opinion pieces published on the website of the conservative National Review magazine in 2001, 2002 and 2003 in which he wrote that women should be banned from refereeing, announcing or bartending at men’s college basketball games.
“The NCAA has been touting this as example of how progressive they are. I see it as an obscenity,” he wrote. “Is there no area in life where men can take a vacation from women? What's next? Women invited to bachelor parties? Women in combat? (Oh yeah, they've done that already.) Why can't women ref the women's games and men the men's games.”
Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told CNN “This was a spoof. I have a sense of humor.” He also told the Journal he “very much” regretted writing the articles.
The White House has signaled that it still supports Moore’s nomination.
“We continue to back Stephen Moore, continue to back him,” Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters this week.
Trump announced his plans to nominate Moore to the board in March. Like the president, Moore has been a frequent critic of both monetary policy set by the U.S. central bank and its chairman, Jerome Powell.
Less than two weeks later, Trump said he planned to nominate Herman Cain, the former Republican presidential candidate, to the board. However, Cain’s nomination soon began to unravel: Trump said he would not pick Cain after four Republican senators signaled they would not back his candidacy, essentially killing his chances.
If Moore is appointed and approved, he will fill one of two vacancies on the seven-member board.