President Donald Trump has asked the United States Patent and Trademark Office to fire an examiner who was reviewing the accuracy of a new high-speed reading test.
The request comes amid a dispute between the White House and a group of speed reading researchers who want the office to fire the examiner, who has said the test is “ineffective.”
The White House asked the office in March to suspend the test after several members of the group of researchers filed a lawsuit in Washington state claiming the test was “inherently flawed.”
The office said in March that it would not suspend the testing, but has not done so since then.
The White House said in a statement Thursday that the request for a “reinstatement” was made to “reassure the Office that the testing has been conducted in accordance with applicable law, and that the results have been accurate.”
The White Houses office did not provide a timeline for the request, which comes as Trump has vowed to restore a national monument in Utah that has been closed to the public after a gunman killed six people and wounded several others at a summer camp.