Did President Trump name his former CFO Allen Wiesselberg to be director of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics? No, that's not true: A fake news release making the claim was created by the AI tool Grok as a joke and then shared on X hours after Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, as head of the federal agency that reports employment numbers. Wiesselberg, if chosen, would likely have a difficult time getting Senate confirmation for the post considering he is a convicted felon after pleading guilty to charges of grand larceny, tax fraud and falsifying business records in 2022.
The fake announcement originated in a post (archived here) shared on George Conway's X account on August 1, 2025. It opened:
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
**Washington, D.C. - August 1, 2025**
### President Trump Appoints Allen Weisselberg as Director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
President Donald J. Trump today announced the appointment of Allen Weisselberg as the new Director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS, a vital agency within the Department of Labor, is tasked with collecting, analyzing, and disseminating critical labor market data that shapes economic policy and decision-making across the nation.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: screenshot of X.com by Lead Stories)
Conway, a former Republican who co-founded the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, made it clear in the replies under the tweet that he used Grok, the AI tool connected to X, to create the fictional release:
Wiesselberg was sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty to 15 counts, including Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, and Criminal Tax Fraud in the Third and Fourth Degrees, while serving as the chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's website (archived here).
President Trump's firing of BLS Commissioner McEntarfer came immediately after her agency reported a negative employment report for July. "In my opinion, today's Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post (archived here) on August 1, 2025.
