Bannon: Gary Cohn ‘absolutely’ should have resigned

Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon said in an interview released Thursday that President Trump’s chief economic adviser should have resigned after publicly breaking with Trump over the president’s response to violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

The Breitbart News chief told “60 Minutes” that leaked stories about National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn’s disgust for Trump’s remarks about Charlottesville were “unacceptable” and that Cohn should have resigned in the wake of the leak.

“The stuff that was leaked that week by certain members of the White House I thought was unacceptable,” Bannon told CBS’s Charlie Rose.

{mosads}Cohn, who is Jewish, was reportedly furious with his boss over Trump’s initial response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Cohn stood behind Trump at his initial press conference as Trump argued that there were “very fine people” on “both sides” of the issue before the protest turned to violence.

“If you find it unacceptable, you should resign,” Bannon added. “I’m talking obviously about Gary Cohn, and some other people. If you don’t like what he’s doing and you don’t agree with it, you have an obligation to resign.”

“So Gary Cohn should have resigned?” Rose asked.

“Absolutely,” Bannon responded.

Trump initially blamed “both sides” for last month’s violence in Charlottesville, where one person was killed and left dozens more injured. Two of Trump’s economic advisory councils were disbanded after executives quit over his comments, which many saw as equivocating between neo-Nazis and counterprotesters.

Last month, the White House assured reporters that Cohn would stay on despite his tensions with Trump.

“Gary intends to remain in his position … at the White House,” a spokesperson said. “Nothing’s changed.”