Almost as soon as President Trump announced on Thursday that Stephen Moore had requested that he be withdrawn from consideration for nomination to the Federal Reserve Board, sources were pointing fingers at Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, as the main figure behind the exodus of the controversial nominee.
So barely two weeks after Romney became the first GOP Senator to oppose Herman Cain’s nomination to the Federal Reserve, the 2012 Republican nominee is credited — or blamed —for forcing both Cain and now Moore to pull out of running for the Fed.
“I’m concerned with regard to child support and tax payments,” Romney told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday, referring to controversies related to Moore’s divorce from his first wife. “But the greater issue relating to all these is their economics relative to their partisan credentials.”
Romney has insisted that the Federal Reserve Board requires professional economists as its governors and neither Cain nor Moore has that credential.
As was the case with the Cain nomination, enough of Romney’s Republican colleagues in the Senate came out against Moore to doom his nomination. Sen. Joni Ernst, R.-Iowa, for example, said she was “inclined” to vote against confirming the former Club for Growth head because of writings that were interpreted as critical of women. (Moore had apologized for his writings, many of which he insisted were in jest).
“Steve Moore…a truly fine person, had decided to withdraw from the Fed process,” Trump tweeted. “Steve won the battle of ideas including Tax Cuts…and deregulation which have produce non-inflationary prosperity for all Americans. I’ve asked Steve to work with me toward future economic growth in our country.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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