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 guttman@forward.com 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.

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