‘This isn’t Stalin, but…’: House Republican slams Trump with stark comparison

A GOP lawmaker said Monday that President Donald Trump's actions to control economic data remind him of a former soviet leader.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) joined CNN's "The Lead" with fill-in host Phil Mattingly to discuss the impact of Trump's decision to fire Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, on Friday. Bacon is one of several Republicans who have spoken out against the move.

"I've been reading a book on [Joseph] Stalin right now, and they were putting out data back then," Bacon said. "Everything is based on data, and you have to have accurate data."

"The interesting thing that I find is that Stalin didn't want accurate data. If you gave him accurate data, he would kill you," Bacon added. "This is nothing like that, but we have to have accurate data out there that people can trust."

Trump used the pretext of a massive jobs data revision to fire McEntarfer last week. BLS data showed that there were 285,000 fewer jobs created in May and June than the agency reported on Friday. The most recent jobs report showed the U.S. economy added just 73,000 jobs in July, which was well below estimates.

White House officials defended McEntafer's removal on Monday.

“To make sure that the data are as transparent and as reliable as possible, we’re going to get highly qualified people in there that have a fresh start and a fresh set of eyes on the problem,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC.

Bacon warned that McEntarfer's removal could have ripple effects on Trump's economy.

"We don't want our data to look suspect to the American people, and people using them to make decisions on economic matters," Bacon said.

Watch the clip below or by clicking here.