Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Trump Friend: Gary Cohn Will Be Fed Chair If He Wants To Be

The director of the National Economic Council, Gary Cohn, “will absolutely” be named chairman of the Federal Reserve if he wants the job, Tom Barrack, a businessman and close friend of President Trump told Bloomberg at a Hamptons polo match on Sunday.

Barrack, who chaired Trump’s inauguration committee, said he didn’t think Cohn would want to make the switch.

“Honestly, he’s certainly capable and qualified for that job,” Barrack said. “But I think there’s other things that he can do that are even more important.”

Cohn, dubbed “Globalist Gary” by his White House enemies, is a former president of Goldman Sachs, and is seen as a moderating force in the Trump White House. Trump has said in recent weeks that he is considering replacing current Fed chair Janet Yellen with Cohn when her term expires early next year.

Cohn himself was also in the Hamptons over the weekend, attending a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

“I’m supporting an amazing cause, I’m supporting my wife and I’m supporting these great New York women,” Cohn told Bloomberg.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.