President Trump is reportedly polling White House staffers and conservative allies about potential replacements for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
Administration officials said Trump soured on his Commerce secretary after losing a bid to place a citizenship question back on the U.S. census in 2020, according to NBC News. Ross’s leadership of the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau and handling of the census fight may have jeopardized his job in Trump’s Cabinet.
The Supreme Court blocked the administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question in June, but left an opening to revisit the question if the administration came back with better reasoning. The ruling came too late to add the question to the 2020 census and still have it printed on time, however.
Trump at first asserted he would add back the question, removed in 2010 under the Obama administration, through executive order. He backed off his pledge in a July 11 press conference, ordering the Commerce Department to instead compile citizenship data already collected by federal agencies.
A Commerce Department spokesperson did not directly answer a question on Ross’s future in the administration in light of the NBC report.
“Currently, the Secretary is overseeing the Department’s response to Hurricane Barry, including NOAA’s extremely accurate track and intensity forecast. On Friday, the Secretary joined the President on his visit to Wisconsin and Ohio, and will continue to work on behalf of the American people and the President’s America First agenda,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. “He has shepherded the Department of Commerce into a new era, where, under the President’s leadership and direction, we have better supported American businesses from unfair trading practices and have reinforced our national and economic security at long last.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
