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Cohn then told Trump that he might have to leave his position, but no one in the room spoke up to support him, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, according to the book. After the meeting was over, Cohn went back to his office, and Pence appeared several minutes later, without Trump in the vicinity. "I'm proud of you," Pence told Cohn at the threshold of his office door, according to the book.

MANY PEOPLE who viewed Donald Trump as unprepared and temperamentally ill-suited to be president initially reassured themselves that a sober-minded Republican majority in Congress would restrain him. Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s (R-Wis.) pitiable farewell this week spotlighted the emptiness of those hopes. Mr. Ryan allowed the president and his allies to corrupt the House Intelligence Committee and treat federal law enforcement as an enemy. Like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and most other ostensible GOP leaders, Mr. Ryan abetted the president as he sought, fruitlessly, to use fear and bigotry to preserve the House Republican majority in the 2018...

President Trump has chosen economist Larry Kudlow to replace Gary Cohn as his senior economic advisor and leader of the National Economic Council. Kudlow, best known for his time as a host on CNBC of "The Kudlow Report," will join the administration in the coming weeks. Cohn is leaving on good terms after disagreeing with the President on the implementation of tariffs. "This is Gary Cohn's last meeting in the Cabinet and of the Cabinet. He has been terrific. He may be a globalist but I still like him," Trump said last week. "And he is a globalist there's...

Media personality Larry Kudlow, a loquacious and energetic advocate of low taxes and free trade, has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Gary Cohn as director of the White House’s National Economic Council, people briefed on the process said. President Trump has spoken twice in recent days with the longtime CNBC commentator about succeeding Cohn, according to three people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. While the phone conversations with Kudlow — one Sunday and another Monday — were favorable, Trump has yet to make a...

The New York Times reports that Christopher Liddell, former Microsoft and General Motors executive, and current White House official, is being considered to take over as President Trump's top economic adviser, following Gary Cohn's resignation. About Liddell: Per the Times, he "has worked closely with Jared Kushner," and has "the sort of experience" Trump is looking for, as having been the CFO for both Microsoft and General Motors. He helped GM bounce back after going bankrupt, the Times reports, and executed "the company's return to the public market."

Gary Cohn, the White House’s top economic adviser, announced Tuesday that he was leaving the administration amid a major internal clash over President Trump’s sharp and sudden pivot toward protectionist trade policies. The departure of Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs who had been an interlocutor between the Trump administration and the business community, is the latest jolt to a White House that has been especially tumultuous in recent weeks and unable to retain some of its top talent. His resignation as National Economic Council director leaves the White House without a financial heavyweight whom business executives and foreign...

Yes, CNN staffers have lost their minds. One year of Donald Trump’s America and he’s defeated them as thoroughly the New England Patriots beat, well, just about anybody. We’re a year into the most-biased U.S. media in history – tracking at 90 percent biased against President Trump. But there appears to be lasting damage to journalists, their professionalism and even their ability to pretend they are rational. In just one week, CNN staffers blamed President Trump for a man who tried to harm people at their headquarters, ran a piece celebrating cuckolding (not kidding!) and questioned whether the president deserved...

President Donald Trump heads to Camp David this weekend to discuss 2018 GOP legislative priorities with Republican members of Congress and White House officials. Infrastructure, immigration and welfare reform are among the issues the officials will likely discuss. President Donald Trump will be at the Camp David retreat this weekend where he will meet with top officials in his administration and Congress to plan out the upcoming year. "We're going to Camp David with a lot of the great Republican senators and we're making America great again," the president said as he left the White House. On Friday, the White...

In what was certainly one of the stranger exchanges on cable news Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Tom Carper (DE) claimed on CNN that White House economic adviser Gary Cohn followed his advice and faked a bad connection to get off the phone with President Trump earlier this month.The discussion, Carper claimed, was over tax reform. According to Carper, 30 minutes into the meeting, Cohn got a call from Trump in Asia, which Carper said was "nice," but he said, "15 minutes later, the president's still talking.""I said, ‘Gary, why don't you do this? Take your cell phone back and just say,...

President Donald Trump’s economic adviser Gary Cohn appears keen on working with the world about climate change, setting up a meeting next week at the United Nations to discuss the issue. The breakfast will include climate and energy ministers from around the world, according to a New York Times report. The Times cited an invitation describing the event as “an opportunity for key ministers with responsibility for these issues to engage in an informal exchange of views and discuss how we can move forward most productively.” Cohn was notably an advocate for the Trump administration staying in the Paris Climate...

Let me start by acknowledging the outstanding job National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn’s team has done swaying the media into thinking Armageddon would occur if he left the White House. I get that Cohn was a respected trader on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs. However, Goldman generally mints exceptional talent. To think there is no one else who can steer this economy is sheer folly. There are numerous talents that come out of Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and JPMorgan who would be very well-suited to run the National Economic Council or the Federal Reserve. So if it...

As President Donald Trump makes deals with congressional Democrats and continues his national barnstorming campaign for tax reform, is the Trump cabinet and the overall White House team going to remain as is? It's a fair question to ask as the Trump administration has often resembled a brutal set of "Survivor" episodes with key players getting voted off the island with regularity. Just to recap, Reince Priebus is out, Michael Flynn is out, Sean Spicer is out, Steve Bannon is out, Anthony Scaramucci was briefly in and then quickly out, Sebastian Gorka is out, and... you get the idea. So...

RUSH: Whoa is right. (laughing) There’s no other way to interpret this. Now, there are people trying to put a smile on this by saying, “No, no, no, you’re misunderstanding what Tillerson was saying. Tillerson was saying the president speaks for himself on these issues, not that he speaks differently.” Look, here’s what’s happened in a nutshell. Trump does his three different statements on Charlottesville. The first statement, you know, the media had a cow, they didn’t particularly like it. So Trump went on and in the second statement specifically condemned neo-Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists because that’s what...

Monday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh reacted to the week before’s shake-ups within the Trump White House, including the departure of Sebastian Gorka. Limbaugh raised questions about Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump advisor and Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn and their loyalties to President Donald Trump. That led Limbaugh to ask why Cohn was still working at the White House given what he had reportedly said about Trump. ...more (w/audio)...

Gary Cohn is President Trump’s National Economic Council Director. In an interview with the Financial Times, Cohn criticized Trump’s comments about the violence in Charlottesville, stating that “citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK.” True. But Trump did not equate the two sets of people. He said that more than one side was to blame for the violence in Charlottesville. This statement is true. Even a New York Times reporter who witnesses the violence acknowledged the role of the “hard left” in the violence. It’s bad enough when a...

Cohn was under intense pressure from his Wall Street friends to resign from the administration. He should have done the President and the country a big favor by succumbing to the pressure. President Donald Trump is attacked on a daily basis by his enemies in the media, the political establishment, and the deep state. He is under unrelenting assault, more so than any other U.S. President in recent history. Usually, even a besieged President can count on support within the ranks of his top advisers. While they may disagree in private, top administration officials have an obligation to present a...

Top White House economic advisor Gary Cohn says he seriously considered resigning after President Donald Trump's reaction to the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. "I have come under enormous pressure both to resign and to remain in my current position," Cohn said during an interview with the Financial Times about economic policy. "As a Jewish-American, I will not allow neo-Nazis ranting 'Jews will not replace us' to cause this Jew to leave his job. I feel deep empathy for all who have been targeted by these hate groups. We must all unite together against them," Cohn said. The former president...

The AP is reporting as of now: WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says reports that President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser is stepping down are “100 percent false.” http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/gary-cohn-not-resigning The rumor is spreading that Gary Cohn, President Trump’s chief economic adviser is resigning, due to conflict concerning the Charlottesville tragedy. However, the AP says it is not true. BUT there is speculation that President Trump has floated the possibility of nominating Cohn to chair the Federal Reserve. There is even an article in VANITY FAIR that speculates that is Cohn’s goal, and it has been his Plan B from...

With a sweeping overhaul of the tax code on the horizon, two Senate Democrats believe this is the moment to broach the third rail of climate change policy: a carbon tax. The plan by the senators, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, to level a $49 per metric ton fee on greenhouse gas emissions is widely acknowledged as a long shot. But the lawmakers, along with climate activists and a cadre of conservative supporters, insist the tax reform is a way to create bipartisan support. The senators propose to use a portion of the estimated $2.1...

National Economic Council director and President Donald Trump's top economic advisor, Gary Cohn, is the leading candidate to take over the top job at the Federal Reserve, according to a report from Politico. Politico's Ben White and Victoria Guida said Tuesday that if Cohn wants the job currently occupied by Chair Janet Yellen, it's his to take, according to four sources close to the replacement search. Cohn had been reportedly leading up the search for someone to take over for Yellen when her term expires in February 2018. Reports also suggested that Cohn may be interested in the job.