Gary Cohn: experienced Democrat was singular figure in Trump's White House

Even for a lesser titan of finance, one without a reputation for deep self-regard, it would have qualified as a painfully humbling moment.

At a news conference in January, Gary Cohn, who was the Goldman Sachs No 2 for a decade, found himself called to the lectern by Donald Trump. The president had been asked by a reporter whether Cohn was happy in his job as director of the national economic council.

“Come here, Gary,” Trump said. “Are you happy?”

“Yes, I’m happy,” Cohn replied through a clenched smile. “How’s that?”

By Tuesday, Cohn was apparently no longer happy, becoming the most recent in a parade of departures from the White House. In a year in the Trump administration, Cohn had successfully engineered a huge deliverable for some of his peers in the financial community in the form of juicy tax cuts.


Source : theguardian