Hey, Don, ‘do better’
Econ czar rips response on hate
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S economy czar said the White House “must do better” in condemning hate groups — and reportedly nearly quit because of his boss’ response to violence in Charlottesville, Va.
“This administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities,” Gary Cohn, director of Trump’s National Economic Council, told the Financial Times.
Cohn, who is Jewish, said he faced calls both to resign and pleas to stay after the President gave varying statements about the deadly violence.
The longtime Goldman Sachs executive went as far as drafting a resignation letter after Trump didn’t fully condemn the hate groups, the New York Times reported.
Cohn scrubbed plans to visit the Hamptons last Friday to discuss the issue with the President at his golf course in New Jersey, the newspaper reported.
He made the decision to stay as he and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are trying to execute ambitious tax-reform plans.
“As a patriotic American, I am reluctant to leave my post ... because I feel a duty to fulfill my commitment to work on behalf of the American people,” Cohn told the Financial Times in his first comments about the clashes nearly two weeks ago. “But I also feel compelled to voice my distress over the events of the last two weeks.”
Cohn said counterprotesters cannot share the same blame as white supremacists and neoNazis.
The former banker didn’t directly mention President Trump’s statements that blame was “on many sides,” but made clear where he was pointing the finger.
“As a Jewish American, I will not allow neo-Nazis ranting ‘Jews will not replace us’ to cause this Jew to leave his job,” said Cohn, a registered Democrat. “I feel deep empathy for all who have been targeted by these hate groups. We must all unite together against them.”
Cohn was particularly distraught after a Trump Tower press conference Aug. 15 in which Trump (below) said there were “very fine people” among both the hate groups and counterprotesters, the Times reported.
The remark came a day after he directly denounced neo-Nazis and the KKK after not specifically condemning them on the day of the violence. Cohn’s wife, friends and former colleagues urged him to consider calling it quits, sources told the Times. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Cohn’s comments were not a surprise. “He’s been very open and honest, so I don’t think anyone was surprised by the comments,” she said.
Cohn’s decision to stay came as other business leaders quit two presidential advisory councils over Trump’s response to Charlottesville.
Mnuchin’s old Yale classmates called on him to resign in the wake of Trump’s response.
That prompted the treasury chief, who is also Jewish, to defend Trump while condemning hate groups.
On Friday, Mnuchin said that “under no circumstances was I going to resign.”