Goldman's Cohn Is Leading Candidate for Top White House Economic Post -- Update
December 09 2016 - 01:05PM
Dow Jones News
By Nick Timiraos, Peter Nicholas and Liz Hoffman
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. President Gary Cohn is the leading
candidate to serve as director of the White House National Economic
Council, two Trump transition advisers said Friday, putting alums
of the prominent Wall Street investment bank into the top two
economic jobs of the new administration.
The move, which wouldn't require Senate confirmation, would
further solidify a marked tilt toward wealthy bankers and business
people -- as well as former top military brass -- among the top
ranks of President-elect Donald Trump's advisers and cabinet
members.
The Trump administration's economic and financial team began to
take shape with last week's announcement that former Goldman
executive Steven Mnuchin was the president-elect's choice to become
Treasury secretary. Now Messrs. Trump and Mnuchin, along with
transition officials, are looking to round out the economic and
regulatory team.
The NEC job could serve as a steppingstone to other top
government posts, including at the Treasury or Federal Reserve, a
leap that has some precedent in past administrations.
Nominating a Goldman executive -- Mr. Cohn also serves as chief
operating officer -- could open Mr. Trump to criticism, especially
after his campaign had prominently attacked big multinational
banks. A campaign video in the final weeks before the election
attacked global elites and flashed an image of Goldman Sachs Chief
Executive Lloyd Blankfein. Mr. Trump already has tapped two other
Goldman alumni, including Mr. Mnuchin and top White House adviser
Steve Bannon.
Mr. Cohn joined Goldman in 1990 as a silver salesman and became
a partner in 1994, the same year as Mr. Mnuchin.
Mr. Cohn declined to comment through a spokesman.
His appointment would cap a remarkable rise for someone who was
so severely dyslexic as a child that a teacher once told his
parents he might aspire to drive a truck, and whose first job out
of college was selling window panels and aluminum siding. His lack
of polish on Goldman's trading floor raised early questions about
his fitness to run the bank. But he has softened his rougher edges
in the past year, which also saw him thrust into the spotlight as
Mr. Blankfein battled lymphoma.
Mr. Cohn was raised in a blue-collar household in Ohio, and
after a short stint at U.S. Steel in Cleveland, he became an
options dealer at the New York Mercantile Exchange. He has served
as Goldman's operating chief since 2006, a leadership transition
set into motion when the then-CEO of the bank, Henry Paulson, was
tapped by President George W. Bush to serve as Treasury
secretary.
Mr. Cohn, a registered Democrat, isn't vocally political, and
has given money to candidates of both parties. Mr. Cohn has
traveled extensively around the world and has deep contacts in
Silicon Valley, on Capitol Hill, and with banking regulators.
Unlike Mr. Blankfein, who publicly endorsed Democratic nominee
Hillary Clinton, Mr. Cohn has kept his views close to the chest,
except to say on CNBC last month he wasn't surprised by the outcome
of the election.
President Bill Clinton created the National Economic Council in
1993 and it has grown to become the most important
economic-policymaking body in the White House. At times, its
director has been as influential as the Treasury secretary or other
cabinet posts, but the position doesn't require Senate
confirmation.
Mr. Clinton tapped another Goldman executive, then-co-chairman
Robert Rubin, as his first NEC director. Mr. Rubin had served at
Goldman alongside co-chairman Stephen Friedman, who would later
serve Mr. Bush as NEC director from 2002-2005. If tapped by Mr.
Trump, Mr. Cohn would become the tenth director of the council and
the third to join it from the executive suite at Goldman.
"It does concern me that they would have a lot of swing from one
company in major positions in our government," said Sen. Jon Tester
(D., Mont.) in an interview. "That is not a good sign. It won't
result in good government."
Joining the government would allow Mr. Cohn to sell his Goldman
stock tax-deferred. He owned more than 882,000 shares outright and
through trusts and other vehicles, according to a Nov. 15
regulatory filing. That stake is worth more than $212 million at
current prices, which are just shy of an all-time high reached in
October 2007.
--Ryan Tracy contributed to this article.
Write to Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com, Peter Nicholas
at peter.nicholas@wsj.com and Liz Hoffman at
liz.hoffman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 09, 2016 12:50 ET (17:50 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024