Stephen Moore: The Left Forced My Fed Withdrawal With ‘Sleaze Campaign’ Because They Can’t Beat My Ideas

Stephen Moore phoned into Fox Business on Thursday to give Neil Cavuto the first word about his decision to withdraw from consideration for the Federal Reserve Board.

President Donald Trump announced that the economics pundit is abandoning his nomination amid questions surrounding whether he would’ve had the support necessary to be confirmed in Congress. Moore has come under fire because of unearthed racist jokes, sexist writings, and controversial takes on topics like rate hikes and child labor laws.

When asked about his decision, Moore blamed the “sleaze campaign” from critics and the media. He defended his past writings, saying “they were meant to be jokes,” but acknowledged that many of Republican lawmakers were not impressed.

“We just decided it was much better for Donald Trump to select someone who doesn’t have a 30-year paper trail,” Moore said. “If people are looking at things I was writing 25 years ago and looking through my divorce records and it just was — it was too difficult for us.”

The discussion continued with Moore railing against the left and saying they led a “character assassination” on him because “they couldn’t beat me on my economic ideas.” Moore wondered why none of his critics tried challenging him on his economic proposals, presumably in a state of amnesia for all those times his ideas were challenged when he used to be a contributor on CNN.

Cavuto eventually asked Moore if he ever warned the White House before his nomination that his controversial past works could be unearthed. Cavuto noted that political nominations frequently lead to “dirty laundry” coming out in the open these days, and Moore said “if I had had any sense this would happen…I would have told the president ‘wait a minute, I can’t do a Senate confirmation.'”

“Maybe you should have given them a heads-up,” Cavuto said.

Watch above, via Fox Business.