President Trump fired a senior Labor Department official on Friday following the release of disappointing job numbers, accusing her without evidence of manipulating the data. The firing intensified concerns about the reliability of U.S. economic reports.

At the same time, Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler announced her early resignation, giving Trump a chance to reshape the Fed sooner than expected. This could allow him to install a potential successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, with whom he has repeatedly clashed over interest rate policy.

Markets reacted sharply, with the S&P 500 dropping 1.6%, its worst day in over two months.

The jobs report showed only 73,000 new jobs in July and downward revisions cutting 258,000 jobs from prior months. Trump criticized the numbers and claimed political bias, despite no supporting evidence.

White House officials pointed to long-standing issues in data collection, worsened by the pandemic and reduced response rates. Some warned that politicizing economic statistics could damage public trust and hinder sound policymaking.

Kugler’s early exit allows Trump to nominate someone who could serve beyond 2026—and possibly position a future Fed chair.