President Trump announced E.J. Antoni as his nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Monday, after he fired the former commissioner earlier this month and blamed her for a weaker-than-expected jobs report.

E.J. Antoni, a staunch critic of the agency, had emerged in recent days as a favorite candidate among some influential Trump advisors, including Stephen K. Bannon. He has questioned the legitimacy of the agency’s data over the past year.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he was nominating economist E.J. Antoni as the new Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, 10 days after firing the agency's previous leader following a weak scorecard of the job market,