White House communications director Steven Cheung criticized Moody’s choice to downgrade the U.S. sovereign credit rating due to concerns about the nation’s growing, $36 trillion debt
On May 16, Moody’s Ratings downgraded the United States’ credit rating from Aaa to Aa1, leaving the U.S. government without a top grade among any of the major rating agencies.
Cheung reacted to the downgrade in a social media post, singling out Moody’s economist, Mark Zandi, who he called a political opponent of President Donald Trump.
“Mark Zandi, the economist for Moody’s, is an Obama advisor and Clinton donor who has been a Never Trumper since 2016,” Cheung said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Nobody takes his “analysis” seriously. He has been proven wrong time and time again.”
According to Bloomberg, Zandi is the chief economist at Moody’s analytics, which is separate from the credit rating agency.
Congressional lawmakers are currently working on a massive tax package supported by Trump that would renew cuts passed in 2017 during his first term and provide additional reductions he promised during the last election.
The Moody’s decision was announced hours after hardline conservatives and Democrats worried about the bill’s cost teamed up to block a key House committee from advancing the tax package.
Trump, who is on an overseas trip, has not directly addressed the change.
