President Donald Trump directed his Administration on Friday to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after the agency released a report that showed that the U.S. added fewer jobs in July than many economists had expected,

Without evidence, Trump called the data "rigged" and implied that BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer manipulated the numbers "for political purposes."

President Trump’s decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics forced his allies into the awkward spot of criticizing an agency they had freely cited in the past.