Top Trump Economic Adviser Cohn Says He's Still a Democrat

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, said on Thursday that he’s still a Democrat despite joining his Republican boss’s administration.

Cohn, who is director of the White House National Economic Council, has long been scorned by the far right in the Republican party as a “globalist” and a Democrat. He confirmed he’s still a Democrat in remarks to the Economic Club of Washington.

Trump had considered naming Cohn chairman of the Federal Reserve, though four people familiar with the matter said he intends to nominate Fed Governor Jerome Powell for the post instead. He’ll announced Powell’s appointment Thursday at the White House.

Cohn called Trump’s Fed decision a “spectacular choice” and said “I’m really supportive,” without identifying the president’s nominee.

Speculation has been rampant that Cohn will leave the administration after he criticized Trump following violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, that the president blamed on both white supremacists protesting the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue and counterprotesters.

But Cohn said his relationship with Trump is as strong as it’s ever been and that he’ll remain in his job “as long as I possibly can.”

The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. president said “it’s dramatically more pressure” to work at the White House.

To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum

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