Gary Cohn: Trump Team ‘Must Do Better’ to Condemn Hate Groups

Gary Cohn, the top economic adviser in the Trump White House, is now on-the-record criticizing the president’s botched response to the deadly white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville this month. “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,” he told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday. Cohn, who is Jewish, additionally revealed he faced “enormous pressure” to resign after the president blamed “hatred on many sides” for the deadly violence and later claimed there were “very fine people” among the neo-Nazi groups protesting to protect Confederate-era statues. “As a patriotic American, I am reluctant to leave my post,” he said, “because I feel a duty to fulfill my commitment to work on behalf of the American people. But I also feel compelled to voice my distress over the events of the last two weeks.” Cohn took a not-so-veiled dig at his boss’ equivocating on hate groups, saying, “Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK.”