Cooking the books? Fears Trump could target statisticians if data disappoints

Proposed rule change could pave way for president to fire economists whose figures prove politically inconvenient Summarizing his befuddlement with numbers, Mark Twain observed that there were "lies, damned lies and statistics". The acerbic phrase later become so deeply embedded in popular consciousness that it once formed the title to an episode of The West Wing, NBC's portrayal of a fictitious US president played by Martin Sheen.