White House’s Sanders doesn’t believe Cohn will resign over tariffs

by Jordan Fabian - 03/02/18 8:57 AM ET

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday she does not believe Gary Cohn plans to resign as President Trump’s top economic adviser over a disagreement about tariffs.

“Gary was here yesterday afternoon, I talked to him in my office several times, so I don’t have any reason to think otherwise,” Sanders told reporters when asked if Cohn will stay at the White House.

Trump’s decision to announce new tariffs on steel and aluminum was a rebuke to Cohn, who argued for more than a year that the measures could hurt the U.S. economy and spark a trade war. {mosads}

Multiple media reports said the president’s decision to forge ahead on tariffs could force Cohn to resign.

The former Goldman Sachs president has been rumored to be eyeing the exits on multiple occasions, only to stay at his post.

Cohn was said to have drafted a resignation letter after Trump blamed “both sides” last summer for violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., but eventually changed his mind.

Many believed Cohn might also leave after Congress passed the GOP’s tax overhaul, which was one of his top projects.

Reports of Cohn’s possible White House departure comes as speculation swirls over the future of other Trump administration officials, including national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump reignited his criticism of Sessions this week, blasting him as “disgraceful” on Wednesday for opening an inspector general probe into the president’s allegations that members of his campaign team were illegally surveilled by members of the Obama administration, rather than using Justice Department lawyers for the task.

Sanders has pushed back on that speculation, saying on Thursday that she knows of no plans by Trump to fire Sessions.

She also pushed back on an NBC News report that White House chief of staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis are working on a plan to replace McMaster.

“Look, Gen. McMaster’s not going anywhere,” Sanders said on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning.