Trump's pick for Fed board says he regrets joke about Obamas: 'I shouldn't have said it'

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Steve Moore says his critics are pulling a 'Kavanaugh' on him

esident Trump's pick for the Federal Reserve Steve Moore says the unfair scrutiny he is facing is comparable to the criticism Brett Kavanaugh dealt with during his Supreme Court nomination.

President Trump's pick for the Federal Reserve Board, Stephen Moore, expressed regret this week for comments he made in 2016 regarding the Obamas leaving the White House, as confirmation of his nomination appears uncertain.

Shortly after Trump’s 2016 election victory, Moore quipped: “There’s that great cartoon going along, that the New York Times headline: ‘First thing Donald Trump does as president is kick a black family out of public housing.’ And it has Obama leaving the White House. I mean, I just love that one.”

“I shouldn’t have said it,” Moore said Tuesday on PBS’s “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover.”

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The 2016 comment was the latest of Moore’s past columns and comments to be used as fodder against his nomination. CNN has reported that multiple columns Moore wrote appeared to be disparaging against women.

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Moore has apologized, telling Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto” last week: "Look, I'm no angel. If you go back 15, 18, 20 years as reporters are doing and look at things I have written in terms of the thousands of articles and, you know, hundreds and hundreds of media appearances I have done and speeches you will maybe be able to find things that I said that were impolitic.”

The controversy has spooked some of his GOP colleagues. At least a half-dozen GOP senators have publicly raised concerns. Sen. Joni Ernest, R-Iowa, who made headlines earlier this year after coming forward with her story of being raped by a former boyfriend, told reporters Monday: “(Moore’s) past writings are ridiculous. I’m not enthused about supporting him, let’s put it that way,” Politico reported.

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Moore said on PBS on Tuesday that if people wanted “to pick apart” his words over the past 30 years, “then I probably won’t … get on the Federal Reserve Board.”

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Trump’s previous Federal Reserve pick, Herman Cain, withdraw his name from consideration in April amid longstanding accusations of sexual misconduct that derailed his 2012 GOP presidential bid. Cain has denied all allegations.

Fox News' Victor Garcia contributed to this report.