May 3, 2019
Kudlow says Moore pulled out of Fed the day before saying ‘I’m all in’
, Bloomberg News
Stephen Moore decided to withdraw his candidacy for a seat on the Federal Reserve board a day before insisting in an interview with Bloomberg News that he was “all in” for the job, according to Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow.
Kudlow said in a Fox Business Network interview on Friday that Moore called him Wednesday evening and said he wanted to withdraw. Kudlow said he asked Moore not to say anything publicly until the president weighed in.
That account contradicts Moore, who told Bloomberg News Thursday morning that the White House had indicated to him a day earlier that it would proceed with his nomination. Kudlow said he was unaware Moore planned to speak to Bloomberg.
“I’m all in,” Moore said in the Bloomberg interview, though he allowed that he would withdraw if Trump decided that was best.
“I’m going to do what the president wants me to do,” Moore said. “If he wants me to keep fighting, I’m going to keep fighting. If he thinks it’s time to throw in the towel, I’ll do that.”
Hours after the interview, the president said in a tweet that Moore had decided to withdraw. His exit marked four consecutive Fed appointments who have failed to advance even to a Senate confirmation hearing.
Moore said Friday in a brief phone interview: “It is what it is and I’m not going to comment on that.”
The economic pundit’s withdrawal -- following a similar abrupt exit by another Trump nominee-in-waiting, Herman Cain, in April -- has increased Republican frustration with the White House’s bare-bones vetting process. Trump’s previous nominations of a pair of economists for the two vacant Fed posts last year, Nellie Liang and Marvin Goodfriend, expired when Congress adjourned without acting on them.
Liang withdrew from consideration for the job in January, and Goodfriend wasn’t renominated.
Senate Republicans have publicly urged the White House to take more care with future nominees and investigate their backgrounds more extensively before publicly naming them. Trump announced in tweets that he would nominate both Moore and Cain before background checks had been completed, and their names were never formally submitted to the Senate.
