White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday he hoped President Trump wouldn’t tweet ahead of the Labor Department’s jobs report again after the president hinted at strong number Friday on social media.
“Presidents can say what they are going to say. If he put the number out, that would have been a much more difficult proposition,” Kudlow said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Will he do it again, Chris?” Kudlow continued, referring to host Chris Wallace. “I don’t know if he will do it again. I suppose I hope he doesn’t.”
Trump tweeted Friday that he was “looking forward” to seeing the May jobs report, about an hour before it was released to the public.
The online missive drew complaints from critics who argued Trump appeared to be signaling that the report would be positive, breaking with protocol and possibly interfering with the markets.
But Kudlow repeated his defense of the tweet Sunday, saying it was “harmless” because people knew to expect the report.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. had added 223,000 jobs, the overall unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent, and black unemployment hit a new record low.
