With Gary Cohn’s Departure, Trump Loses An Adviser — And A Hotel Guest

Gary Cohn Image by Getty Images

By Nathan Guttman March 8, 2018

Gary Cohn’s decision to resign from the Trump administration over disagreements on trade policy was viewed as a hit to President Trump’s relationship with the business wing of the Republican Party. But it could also hurt Trump’s pocketbook.

Cohn, who left his job at Goldman Sachs in New York to serve as the director of the National Economic Council, chose to live at the Trump International Hotel during the weekdays. The hotel, owned by Trump, is just a few blocks from the White House and is by no means cheap.

Washingtonian found that even if Cohn took the cheapest room, he’d still be paying more than $2,000 a week, or $102,632 a year. If he decided to go for an upgraded one-bedroom executive suite, the price tag would reach almost $400,000 for the year Cohn lived in Washington.

Now that Cohn is done with the White House and heading back to New York, Trump and his hotel are facing the loss of a reliable customer who enriched his organization’s corporate coffers.

In possibly related news, the White House would not rule out calling back Cohn if a new position becomes available.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO