“He has to be evaluated,” said Shelby, now the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “But a lot of things have come up about his taxes, about his child support, alimony, about things he’s written about women. All those become issues as part of the confirmation process if he gets nominated.”
Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Monday that the White House was reviewing Moore’s writings and statements but didn’t elaborate. “When we have an update on that front we’ll let you know,” she told reporters.
The president repeatedly attacked Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for raising rates last year and discussed firing him in December. His desire to place Moore and Cain, two loyalists, on the board has prompted concerns over the possible politicization of the U.S. central bank.
Cain withdrew after decades-old sexual harassment and infidelity allegations against him began to resurface. In a column, he said that he had decided not to pursue the nomination because it would mean a substantial pay cut.
Moore also has taken heat for having called Cincinnati and Cleveland the “armpits of America” in a 2014 speech, a comment that risks offending voters in Ohio, a key state for Trump in his 2020 re-election bid.
Speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Moore said that while he’s embarrassed by some of the things he wrote, he’s facing a “smear campaign” that includes having his divorce papers from a decade ago unsealed. The focus, he said, should be on his economic views and the role he played in advising Trump on policies that have produced strong economic growth.
Moore said Sunday that Ohio is no longer the “armpit of America.”
This story provided by Bloomberg News.