The White House is “reviewing” comments about women made by Stephen Moore, President Trump’s pick for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board.
“Certainly we’re reviewing those comments and when we have an update on that front we’ll let you know,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Monday.
{mosads}Several columns that Moore wrote for the National Review in the early 2000s were unearthed by CNN’s KFile last week, and in one of them Moore suggested women should have no role in men’s college basketball.
“Here’s the rule change I propose: No more women refs, no women announcers, no women beer vendors, no women anything,” he wrote in March 2002.
He made similar comments and defended the March 2002 comments in other columns.
Moore said on Sunday that he was “embarrassed” by what he had written. But he also said he has no plans to withdraw his name from consideration unless he becomes a political “liability” to Republicans.
When asked by The Hill to comment on Sanders’s remarks, Moore responded with a statement saying, “This is a normal part of the vetting process for any nominee to any government agency.”
Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Monday that the White House continues to back Moore for the position.
“We’re still behind him, and he’s going through the process of vetting,” Kudlow told reporters at the White House.
Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain withdrew himself from consideration for a spot on the Federal Reserve Board last week after bipartisan pushback.
Republican critics said he was unfit to serve because of resurfaced misconduct allegations, which derailed his 2012 White House bid, and his outspoken support for Trump.
The Federal Reserve has traditionally been independent of political influence when it comes to setting monetary policy.
–Updated at 4:43 p.m.