POLITICS MAY 2, 2019 / 9:09 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Moore picks up key backing for potential U.S. Fed board post

(Reuters) - Stephen Moore, President Donald Trump’s pick for a seat on the U.S. Federal Reserve board, picked up a key endorsement from a Senate Republican on Thursday when Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey said he would be “inclined to support” the conservative commentator despite Moore’s past sexist comments.

Toomey, who made the remarks in a CNBC interview, is the first Republican in several days to publicly back Moore since he came under fire for past writings that have disparaged women. Moore had defended his opinion columns as humor but now says he regrets them after they became a problematic issue over the past two weeks.

“I think people ought to take a look at those,” Toomey said of Moore’s writing. “I think they were intended to be tongue-in-cheek. I don’t think he’s a misogynist or anything of the sort.”

Toomey, who more than a decade ago succeeded Moore as head of the Club for Growth, a conservative political action committee Moore had founded, is a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee that would review his nomination if the White House formally submits it, which has not yet occurred.

-snip-