Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump's chief economic adviser, says there was a lot of pressure to resign after Trump's comments about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"Yes, I think there's blame on both sides," President Trump said to reporters. "If you look at both sides — I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it, and you don't have any doubt about it either."
Those comments were extremely controversial. The White House later released a statement defending Trump's comments.
Cohn, who is Jewish, told The Financial Times he was under pressure both to resign and to stay on Trump's staff. The New York Times reports he even drafted a letter of resignation.
The Washington Post reports Cohn got calls from friends asking him if he would leave.
But Cohn said as a patriot of his country he feels a duty to stick with it. And as a Jewish American he will "not allow neo-Nazis ranting 'Jews will not replace us' to cause this Jew to leave his job."
Still, Cohn said that he thinks the Trump administration needs to do better in condemning hate groups and that he's shared those thoughts with the president.
Cohn's statement makes him one of the few administration officials to publicly criticize Trump's response to what happened in Charlottesville.
