President Trump's early jobs tweet leads to criticism from Obama officials

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump hails new U.S. jobs numbers President Donald Trump described newly released unemployment numbers as "yet one more historic milestone." U.S. employers extended a streak of solid hiring in May, adding 223,000 jobs and lowered the unemployment rate to 3.8 percent.

President Trump seemed excited about the release of Friday morning's job report.

"Looking forward to seeing the employment numbers at 8:30 this morning," he tweeted.

The problem: The president's tweet came before the release of the report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which breaks protocol about not commenting on the report before its public release. Trump's tweet hinted a positive report, providing a signal to markets.

Presidents typically get to see the numbers the day before, per a longstanding tradition. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, confirmed that he told the president about the numbers on Thursday night aboard Air Force One.

Friday morning's report was indeed positive: U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate slipped to an 18-year-low of 3.8%.

Kudlow told reporters that the president did not reveal the details of the report and said it was no big deal that he tweeted a preview of its release.

“Why not?” Kudlow said. “He didn’t give any numbers.”

Still, Jason Furman, a Harvard Kennedy School professor who served on former president Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers as its chairman, called Trump out.

"You should have gotten the employment numbers from the Council of Economic Advisers yesterday," Furman wrote. "And if this tweet is conveying inside information about a particularly good jobs number you should never get them in advance from the Council of Economic Advisers again."

You should have gotten the employment numbers from the Council of Economic Advisers yesterday.



And if this tweet is conveying inside information about a particularly good jobs number you should never get them in advance from the Council of Economic Advisers again. https://t.co/Qd3ig89onT — Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) June 1, 2018

Austan Goolsbee, who also served as chairman of Obama's economic council, criticized the tweet, too, contending that releasing information about the report ahead of time was breaking the law.

"It’s classified information," said Goolsbee, who is now an economics professor at the University of Chicago. "The CEA gets the number the day before and even internally can only discuss the info on an encrypted line before release."

It’s classified information. The CEA gets the number the day before and even internally can only discuss the info on an encrypted line before release. https://t.co/ykiw5CM2nS — Austan Goolsbee (@Austan_Goolsbee) June 1, 2018

Not the case. The rule forbids executive branch employees from revealing the info. https://t.co/seJhk2ANEV — Austan Goolsbee (@Austan_Goolsbee) June 1, 2018

Chris Lu, the former deputy Labor secretary during the Obama administration, explained the outrage.

"This is one of the most sensitive pieces of federal data and can dramatically move markets," he said on Twitter. "It's closely held and misuse of it leads to dismissal."

If you're wondering about the outrage over Trump's #JobsReport tweet, this is one of the most sensitive pieces of federal data and can dramatically move markets. It's closely held and misuse of it leads to dismissal.



Good @elisaslow story from 2012: https://t.co/LKe13ePcOO — Chris Lu (@ChrisLu44) June 1, 2018

Others also weighed in:

Trump's foreshadowing jobs-number tweet is a small norm-breaking sin. But it sets up an interesting issue down the road: will the absence of a pre-jobs-numbers release tweet be interpreted by the market as bad impending numbers? — Sam Stein (@samstein) June 1, 2018

GREAT! So now when @realDonaldTrump DOESNT tweet the jobs numbers (or just oversleeps) mkts will assume they’re bummers & trade down!! “Trump breaks protocol, sends markets a clear signal on jobs report before numbers are released.” https://t.co/qpCrJ0YxtI pic.twitter.com/NsBWyo3KAC — David A. Andelman (@DavidAndelman) June 1, 2018

Not sure how masterful Trump is at PR game: We get really good jobs numbers and he steps on the news with a premature and inappropriate tweet. — David Wessel (@davidmwessel) June 1, 2018

Contributing: David Jackson