Trump might fire Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross because he wants a 'more hard-charging leader'

Donald Trump and Wilbur Ross
(Image credit: Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

President Trump might remove Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross following the administration's inability to have a citizenship question added to the 2020 census, NBC News reports.

The president has been looking into replacing Ross because he's "frustrated" by his "leadership of the Census Bureau," telling allies he "wants a more hard-charging leader," the report says. It's not clear how imminent Ross' potential departure could be, and NBC reports it doesn't seem Trump has actually reached out to potential replacements yet, but some White House officials reportedly expect Ross to be gone this summer.

This is reportedly not the first time Trump has considered getting rid of Ross, who joined the administration in February 2017, and reports last year suggested he might do so by the end of 2018.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The report comes days after Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigned following criticism of a plea deal he struck with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he was a Florida prosecutor, as well as following reports that Trump is "eager" to fire Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

Trump last week announced his administration would no longer pursue adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census after previously saying the effort was "moving forward" following an unfavorable Supreme Court decision. Trump has since insisted he did not "back down," and he denied being disappointed with Ross, saying his Commerce secretary "didn't let me down."

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Brendan Morrow

Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.