A fraying relationship between US president Donald Trump and his economic adviser Gary Cohn has raised questions about how long the former Goldman Sachs banker will stay in his job, according to sources close to the White House.



As former White House strategist Steve Bannon said Cohn “should resign” for criticising the president’s comments about the Charlottesville violence last month, one source said concern had grown among Cohn’s allies over the past 24 hours that he might be pressured to leave.

The recent concerns stem from a report in the Wall Street Journal – confirmed by other news media, including Reuters – that Cohn was unlikely to be nominated by Trump as a potential successor to Fed chair Janet Yellen.

Trump had mentioned Cohn in July for the job. Cohn resigned as president of Goldman Sachs to join the new administration as director of the national economic council.

“The calculus has shifted for Gary. He’s gone, essentially, from untouchable to possibly being bounced out,” the source said. “The message is clear that suddenly Cohn’s job in the White House has real downside risk.“

Cohn crossed Trump last month when he criticised the president in a Financial Times interview for his response to the violence at a rally organized by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which one woman died.

Although several sources said Cohn had always planned to stay in his post for at least a year, another source close to the White House said Trump wanted to fire him. “Hates him. But that could be ephemeral,” the source said.

Cohn, who is Jewish, told the FT the administration “must do better” in condemning neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

The former investment banker gave the interview after his wife and daughters pushed him to speak out, if not quit, after Trump blamed “both sides” for the violence.

Trump said there were “very fine people” among the white supremacist groups, a comment that disgusted Cohn and those close to him, people who know him said.

While the interview was intended to signal that Cohn had no plans to leave the White House and planned to push ahead with his signature project, tax reform, sources said the comments upset Trump.

The suggestion that the pair’s relationship has become difficult in the wake of Charlottesville was supported by Bannon’s comments. Despite being ousted from the White House, Bannon remains loyal to the Trump project and told CBS: “If you are going to break with [Trump], you should resign,” Bannon said. “I’m talking, obviously, about Gary Cohn and some other people. That if you don’t like what he’s doing and you don’t agree with it, you have an obligation to resign.”

A White House official said Cohn was focused on his job, especially tax reform.

“Gary is focused on his responsibilities as the director of the National Economic Council, including a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deliver meaningful tax reform that creates jobs and grows the economy,” the official said.

Cohn said in a CNBC interview last week he had a “great relationship” with Trump and the two were working well together. (Additional reporting by Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Caren Bohan and Clarence Fernandez)