Donald Trump hopped aboard the jobs report "truther" train on Monday, accusing President Barack Obama's administration of "monkeying" with the September numbers in order to paint a rosier picture of the economic situation ahead of the presidential election.

After calling Obama "the worst foreign policy president in the history of the country," Trump told Fox News that he agreed with other CEOs and pundits who had endorsed conspiracy theories about how the unemployment rate dropped from 8.1 to 7.8 percent last month.

"I'm telling you in a month and a half from now, they will do a readjustment like has been happening for the last year and a half. They will do a readjustment and the number will be 8.2 or more," Trump told Fox & Friends. "Everyone knows he didn't want to lay off certain workers in certain categories and that's been well documented and well reported that he didn't want to lay off certain workers in certain categories until after the election."

Trump claimed the real unemployment rate was between "16 and 21 percent" and said the administration had engaged in "a lot of monkey business."

With his comments, Trump joins the likes of former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who on Friday kicked off a round of allegations against the White House with a tweet.

"Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers," he wrote.

Welch later refused to take back any of his assertions, but over the weekend appeared to suggest that he wasn't directly referencing the White House in his tweet.

HuffPost's Bonnie Kavoussi recently explained why conspiratorial speculation about tampering with jobs reports is baseless:

The monthly jobs numbers are put together by career government analysts, using long-established statistical methods that are shielded from political influence. Until recently, the [Bureau of Labor Statistics] was run by an appointee from the Bush administration, and it currently has no political appointees.

But that has never stopped Trump in the past. In September, Trump accused the BLS of selectively choosing figures in order to mask the real unemployment rate.

Also on HuffPost:

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  • Jack Welch

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/05/jobs-report-conspiracy-theory-baseless_n_1942685.html">Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, tweeted</a> on Friday that President Obama's team must have cooked the September jobs numbers in order to help his reelection chances. But <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/05/jobs-report-conspiracy-theory-baseless_n_1942685.html">these claims are baseless</a>: The Bureau of Labor Statistics is an independent agency that conducts scientific random surveys.

  • Rush Limbaugh On Jobs Report

    Long before <a href="https://twitter.com/jack_welch/status/254198154260525057">Jack Welch accused the Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> of cooking its books to help President Obama on Oct. 5, conservative talk show host <a href="http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/02/03/happy_days_are_here_again_in_obamaville_raw_jobs_numbers_tell_very_different_story">Rush Limbaugh claimed in February</a> that the Bureau of Labor Statistics' seasonal adjustment of the jobs numbers amounted to cooking the books to help President Obama. He said that "the raw number" from December to January meant "we lost two million jobs." But economists agree that seasonal adjustment is critical for month-to-month measurements, since there are seasonal factors that add noise to the data otherwise. (Hat tip: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/economic-conspiracy-theories-2012-8?op=1">Business Insider</a>.)

  • Donald Trump

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/donald-trump-federal-reserve_n_1882256.html">Real estate mogul Donald Trump told CNBC</a> in September that the Federal Reserve is "creating phony numbers and they're doing it through stimulus." The Fed has bought securities in its three rounds of quantitative easing, which many economists argued has had a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/21/federal-reserves-bond-buy_n_881805.html"> real effect on the economy</a>.

  • Karl Rove

    Republican political strategist <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/media/2008/12/09/33404/rove-oreilly-economy/">Karl Rove and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said</a> in December 2008 that journalists exaggerated the economic crisis then so that anything under President Obama would be an improvement. But the economy really was in a deep recession at the time.

  • Erin Burnett ON Fed Stimulus

    <a href="http://outfront.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/31/fed-chairman-ben-bernanke-defends-stimulus-that-cost-1-million-per-job/">CNN anchor Erin Burnett said</a> on her show "Erin Burnett OutFront" on Aug. 31 that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may embark on another round of quantitative easing, a type of monetary stimulus, in order to help Obama get reelected and keep his own job. But the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is independent and makes its monetary policy decisions based on how the economy is doing. Also, Bernanke is a registered Republican and was appointed by George W. Bush.

  • Rush Limbaugh On Financial Crisis

    Conservative talk show host <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2008/12/22/34058/limbaugh-democrats-indy/">Rush Limbaugh claimed in December 2008</a> that President Obama helped cause the financial crisis so that he could gain power. (Hat tip: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/economic-conspiracy-theories-2012-8?op=1">Business Insider</a>.)

  • Ron Paul

    Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who believes America should abolish the Federal Reserve and go back to the gold standard, <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/04/14/the-conspiracy-theorists-history-of-gold.aspx">said in 2010</a> that the New York Fed might not have any gold in its vaults, according to The Motley Fool. Actually, <a href="http://www.newyorkfed.org/education/addpub/goldvault.pdf">it does</a>.

  • Erin Burnett On Food And Gas Prices

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/08/erin-burnett-federal-reserve_n_1866971.html">CNN anchor Erin Burnett claimed</a> on her show "Erin Burnett OutFront" in September that the Federal Reserve's stimulus measures have caused food and gas prices to rise. But <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/08/erin-burnett-federal-reserve_n_1866971.html">there has been no correlation</a> between the two.