Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn drafted resignation letter, source says

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Source says Gary Cohn drafted WH resignation letter

Top Trump economic adviser critical of president's Charlottesville response

Gary Cohn, the top White House economic adviser who says he's faced pressure to leave the administration, went so far as to draft a resignation letter and met with President Trump last Friday, a source with knowledge of the situation told Fox News.

It's unclear whether that letter was formally submitted -- but Cohn has since made clear he's staying with the administration.

He also is now speaking out about his concerns with the administration's response to the Charlottesville, Va., violence, in an interview with The Financial Times which apparently was approved in advance.

In that interview, Cohn sought to clear the air, while seeming to put some distance between him and others in the administration with regard to the Charlottesville response.

“As a Jewish American, I will not allow neo-Nazis ranting ‘Jews will not replace us’ to cause this Jew to leave his job,” Cohn said to The Financial Times.

Trump came under fire for saying “both sides” were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville earlier this month. At his campaign-style rally in Phoenix, Ariz., this week, the president slammed the media’s take on his initial condemnation of the violence when he said he “openly called for healing unity and love.”

Cohn said he felt “compelled to voice my distress” over Charlottesville, and said “citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK.”

Cohn told The Financial Times that the Trump administration “can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning these groups and do everything we can to heal the deep divisions that exist in our communities.”

Cohn has often been cast in the media as a top adversary to Trump deputies like chief strategist Steve Bannon, who left the administration last week.

Fox News' John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.