Trump’s 2nd Pick for US Central Bank Board Withdraws from Consideration

Trump's 2nd Pick for US Central Bank Board Withdraws from Consideration

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday conservative economic commentator Stephen Moore has withdrawn from consideration as a member of the Federal Reserve board.

Trump announced Moore's decision Thursday on Twitter after weeks of controversy about Moore's writings about women. Moore also drew criticism for failing to pay more than $300,000 in child support and alimony payments and for a more than $75,000 tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service.

Moore decided to withdraw after a number of Republican senators said he probably would not be able to win enough confirmation votes.

Moore's withdrawal is another setback for Trump's efforts to install political supporters to the nation's central bank. Another candidate, businessman and one-time presidential hopeful Herman Cain, also withdrew from consideration recently following past accusations of sexual harassment and infidelity. Trump had declared both men his preferred choices for seats on the Fed board, even before the FBI and the White House had completed background checks.

In 2002, Moore wrote a column criticizing the National Collegiate Athletic Association for permitting a woman to referee a men's college basketball game. "Is there no area in life where men can take a vacation from women?" he wrote. Moore also wrote in 2014 that women who earned more money than men could be "disruptive to family stability." Moore has said he regrets the writings and said they were meant to be humorous.

With Moore's and Cain's withdrawals, two staunch Trump supporters are no longer under consideration. Moore was an adviser to Trump's presidential campaign and helped shape the Trump administration's tax law that took effect in 2018. Moore also regularly defended Trump's policies in writings and on television, while Cain formed a super Political Action Committee last year to advance Trump's agenda.

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