BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will likely ask a senior Goldman Sachs banker to coordinate economic policy across his administration, turning again to Wall Street for expertise in managing the world’s largest economy, a transition official said on Friday.

Trump’s pick of Goldman President Gary Cohn, 56, to head the White House National Economic Council comes despite Trump’s past criticism of the financial sector’s power.

Trump hammered Goldman and its Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein during the presidential campaign, releasing a television ad that called Blankfein part of a “global power structure” that had robbed America’s working class.

The anti-Goldman message rankled some on Wall Street, although several alums of the bank had major roles in Trump’s campaign and are bound for senior administration posts.

“That Trump is willing to take this step does suggest the political risk to the biggest banks may be diminishing,” said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Cowen & Co.

The NEC coordinates economic policy across agencies, a key role for Trump’s promise to jumpstart the economy after years of tepid growth.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Cohn worried that an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve without corresponding action by other central banks could damage the U.S. economy.

“I am concerned (about) how much U.S. rates can dislocate from the rest of the world, and I think that’s a big issue,” Cohn said.

Former Harvard University President Larry Summers served as President Barack Obama’s first NEC director in 2009 and played a leading role in crafting the administration’s primary response to the financial crisis - a stimulus package that was later criticized for being inadequate to boost the economy.

Cohn, who is also Goldman’s chief operating officer, hails from one of the most respected Wall Street establishments and would follow former Goldman executives Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman in running the NEC.

“I think Trump feels confident that the establishment will help him fix some of our problems,” said Jerry Braakman, chief investment officer of First American Trust.

Cohn was widely seen as Blankfein’s heir apparent and his exit may give rise to a new group of leaders at the bank, most of whom have spent more than 20 years there.

NBC reported earlier that Trump had offered Cohn the job. A Goldman Sachs spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Cohn is a former Goldman commodities trader from Ohio who joined the firm in 1990. He served in leadership roles in bond trading, eventually becoming co-president in 2006.

According to Thomson Reuters data, he has $190 million worth of stock in Goldman.

In 2010, Cohn testified before the federal commission examining the roots of the financial crisis, denying charges that Goldman had bet against its clients who held risky mortgage-backed securities.

Cohn struggled with dyslexia as a child and bounced from school to school and has often talked of his unlikely path to Wall Street. One teacher told his parents if they were really lucky he might grow up to be a truck driver.

He was known throughout Goldman for his direct and abrasive manner in dealing with colleagues, although he has become more polished in recent years, current and former executives said.

Gary Cohn, Goldman Sachs Group Inc president and chief operating officer, arrives for a meeting at Trump Tower to speak with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in New York, U.S., November 29, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Cohn would join at least two other former Goldman bankers in the Trump administration, including Treasury Secretary-designate Steven Mnuchin and White House adviser Steve Bannon.

The abundance of Wall Street faces on his team exposes Trump to criticism he is veering away from pledges to protect American workers from powerful interests.

“Gary Cohn’s bank helped cause the 2008 financial crisis (and) he shouldn’t have anything to do with America’s economic policies,” said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress, a left-leaning nonprofit group.</s>U.S President-elect Donald Trump has asked Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn to head his White House National Economic Council, a group that coordinates economic policy across agencies, NBC News reported on Friday.

Cohn, president and chief operating officer at the Wall Street firm, had been widely considered the heir apparent to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein. If he goes, it may give rise to a new group of leaders at the bank, most of whom have spent more than 20 years of their careers there.

A Goldman Sachs spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Cohn, 56, is a former Goldman commodities trader from Ohio who joined the firm in 1990. He served in a variety of leadership roles in bond trading, becoming co-head of Goldman’s broader securities and eventually, co-president in 2006.

He makes frequent appearances at industry conferences and on television, speaking on the state of the financial markets.

If he takes the post, he will be following in the footsteps of Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman, two other one-time Goldman Sachs executives who served in that role.

He would also be joining at least two other former Goldman executives who will also be serving in the Trump administration: Steven Mnuchin, nominated to head the Treasury Department, and Steve Bannon, picked to be chief strategist at the White House.</s>Gary Cohn, the Wall Street bank’s president, is expected to be named director of Trump’s National Economic Council, which oversees economic policy in the White House.

The longtime second-in-command at Goldman Sachs, Gary Cohn, will help guide President-elect Donald Trump’s economic policy along with a former Goldman partner, Steven Mnuchin, who has been nominated for treasury secretary.

Cohn, the Wall Street bank’s president, is expected to be named director of Trump’s National Economic Council, which oversees economic policy in the White House.

Cohn, 56, rose up through the ranks of Goldman as a trader and developed a reputation for a gruff, no-nonsense demeanor. In recent years, he has been in line to take over the firm from the chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, and his departure will open the door to a new crop of candidates looking to succeed Blankfein.

Cohn has been registered as a Democrat, but has donated to both political parties.

Yet more important, he has become friends with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a close adviser to the president-elect.

The decision follows an extended courtship in which the Goldman executive visited with Trump three times, most recently on Thursday.

The ascendance of Cohn comes not long after attacks by Trump on the financial elite — and Goldman Sachs in particular — during his presidential campaign. Trump criticized both Hillary Clinton and one of his primary campaign opponents, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for their ties to the investment bank.

Since his election, however, Trump has stocked his future cabinet with a number of financiers, including Mnuchin, a former Goldman trader, as his pick for Treasury secretary and Stephen Bannon, a former Goldman employee who is now Trump’s chief strategist.

Goldman Sachs has already become a beneficiary of the future Trump administration. Trump has promised to push back on financial regulations passed since the financial crisis, which have come down particularly hard on Goldman. Since the election, shares of banks and other financial institutions have risen sharply; Goldman’s stock is up 34 percent.

Over his Goldman career, the 6-foot-3 Cohn has been known for a brusque and intimidating presence, reportedly looming over traders at their desks. But he has softened that approach over the years as he became more of a financial diplomat.</s>WASHINGTON (JTA) — President-elect Donald Trump reportedly is set to name a top Goldman Sachs official to coordinate his administration’s economic policy, his latest of several picks from a company he consistently attacked during his campaign.

NBC reported Friday that Trump would name Gary Cohn, the financial firm’s president and CEO, as the head of the White House National Economic Council. The Trump transition team would not comment on the report.

Cohn, 56, is a native of Cleveland. In 2009, he funded the Cohn Jewish Student Center at Kent State University named for his parents.

Cohn is the latest Goldman Sachs banker or alumnus Trump has named to his government. He joins alumnus Steve Mnuchin, the designated Treasury secretary, and Bayo Ogunlesi, a member of Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum who is on the Wall Street firm’s board.

Cohn answers to Lloyd Blankfein, the bank’s CEO, who was vilified in Trump’s final campaign ad, which echoed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories by matching Jewish faces to themes of global control. During the campaign, the Republican candidate accused the bank of being in “total, total control” of his primaries rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Trump has not directly addressed why he is hiring people from a sector he disparaged, but has said he wants proven job creators and money makers on his team.

Cohn has a reputation for abrasiveness, but also for getting things done, according to a Wall Street Journal profile last year. In a 2014 New York Times op-ed, Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith wrote on the day he resigned that Blankfein and Cohn were responsible for a “decline in the firm’s moral fibre” that placed the firm’s interests above those of its clients.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Gary Cohn, the No. 2 executive at the powerhouse Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, to a prominent White House economic post.

That's according to two people informed of the decision.

Cohn, 56, would lead the White House's National Economic Council, a posting that would require him to leave his $21-million-a-year job as president and chief operating officer at Goldman.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly vilified Goldman Sachs for the firm's outsize influence in the financial system. Yet with Cohn's selection, Trump will have named three current or former Goldman officials to key positions in his administration.

The people informed of the decision insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the expected move.</s>WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn to an influential White House economic post, two people informed of the decision said Friday.

Cohn, 56, would lead the White House National Economic Council, a posting that would require him to leave his $21 million a year job as president and chief operating officer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Trump repeatedly vilified the prestigious Wall Street bank on the campaign trail, yet with the selection of Cohn, he has now chosen three of its alumni to key positions in his upcoming administration.

Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary nominee, and Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist and senior counselor, also worked at Goldman Sachs.

The National Economic Council helps to coordinate domestic and global issues, providing economic policy advice to the president and monitoring how the White House's agenda is implemented across the government.

If Cohn accepts the nomination, he will also be the third Goldman executive to run the NEC. Robert Rubin was the NEC director under Bill Clinton, and Stephen Friedman had the job during George W. Bush's administration.

The two people informed of the decision spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the expected move.

Raised in Ohio, Cohn took a more circuitous path to Goldman.

He graduated jobless from American University in Washington, D.C., and moved back into his parents' home, according to a speech he gave at his alma mater. Cohn quickly found work at U.S. Steel to appease his father, only to pivot to a Wall Street job within a few months that eventually led him to Goldman in 1990.

During the campaign, Trump repeatedly attacked his rivals over their Goldman ties.

He criticized GOP primary opponent Ted Cruz for taking loans from the bank, where Cruz's wife worked, to help pay for his Texas Senate race in 2012. And he chided Clinton for accepting large speaking fees from Goldman and for not publicly sharing what she had told the bankers.

"I know the guys at Goldman Sachs," Trump said at a South Carolina rally in February, when he was locked in a fierce battle with Cruz. "They have total, total control over him. Just like they have total control over Hillary Clinton."

Trump even featured video of Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein in a campaign ad with the voiceover, "Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors."

But Trump appears to have since changed his tune.

In a Dec. 9 speech in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump said, "I want people that made a fortune. Because now they're negotiating with you, OK?"

AP writers Julie Pace and Julie Bykowicz contributed to this report.</s>Donald Trump’s administration, already seen as the wealthiest in modern history, is about to get even richer when Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Gary Cohn is named the president-elect’s chief economic policy adviser.

Cohn, the firm’s chief operating officer and once considered the heir apparent to CEO Lloyd Blankfein, was said to be Trump’s top selection for the post. He would walk away from Goldman Sachs with $266 million of stock and awards amassed during more than a quarter century at the investment bank, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

And he’s not even close to being among Trump’s wealthiest.

Already Trump and his announced nominees are worth more than $12 billion. That includes Wilbur Ross, the private equity titan with a $2.9 billion net worth, who has been nominated for commerce secretary and Betsy DeVos, for secretary of education. Her father-in-law Richard DeVos has a net worth of $4.8 billion, thanks mostly to his ownership of direct-seller Amway, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• December 8, 2016 Donald Trump to name fast-food CEO Andrew Puzder to head Labor Department News of Cohn’s selection immediately follows that of Andrew Puzder, the CEO of closely held Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. parent CKE Restaurants Inc. The opponent of a $15 minimum wage will be nominated for labor secretary. Linda McMahon, the co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., shares a net worth of at least $1.35 billion with her husband, Vince. She’s slated to lead the Small Business Administration.

Jake Siewert, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs, declined to comment. Spokesmen for Trump didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

Among the richest members of the administration is Trump himself. The president-elect has a net worth of $3 billion, according to a July assessment by Bloomberg.

“You’d have to go back to Herbert Hoover to see a cabinet that was this reliant on wealthy people,” said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian. “But the wealth has changed. Millionaires have become billionaires.”

The swelling net worth of Trump’s cabinet heads and advisers has triggered concerns that he’s distanced himself from promises to deliver policy fixes for the “forgotten man.”

“I want people that made a fortune because now they’re negotiating with you,” Trump said at a Thursday event in Des Moines, Iowa. “It’s no different than a great baseball player or a great golfer.”

Cohn, 56, would be the third and most senior Goldman Sachs alumnus to take a prominent role in the incoming administration despite the president-elect’s criticism of Wall Street and the bank in particular on the campaign trail. Cohn follows Goldman Sachs alumni Stephen Bannon, who will be Trump’s chief strategist, and Steven Mnuchin, who has been chosen to lead the Treasury Department.

Cohn’s takeaway from the bank is bolstered by an exit plan for executives who leave for government service, a payout that hinges on approval from the bank’s board. For Cohn, that would be about $58.5 million, mostly in stock awards he’d receive early. About a sixth of those are tied to hitting future financial targets. It also includes health premiums that he may forgo.

Putting billionaires in the cabinet is not without precedent. Penny Pritzker, an heiress of the Hyatt Hotels fortune, serves as President Barack Obama’s secretary of commerce, and has a net worth of $3.1 billion.

— With assistance from Dakin Campbell Brendan Coffey Pamela Roux and Anders Melin</s>In the heat of the presidential campaign, Donald Trump accused primary rival Ted Cruz of being controlled by Goldman Sachs because his wife, Heidi, previously worked for the Wall Street giant. He slammed Hillary Clinton for receiving speaking fees from the bank.

Now, Mr. Trump is putting Goldman executives at the helm of his administration’s economic team. He’s expected to name bank president Gary Cohn to an influential White House policy post, according to two people informed of the decision, and has already nominated former Goldman executive Steve Mnuchin to lead the Treasury Department. Steve Bannon, Mr. Trump’s incoming White House senior adviser, also worked at Goldman before becoming a conservative media executive.

To Democrats, the fact that Mr. Trump is now plucking advisers from Wall Street smacks of hypocrisy.

“Everyone who voted for Trump, who thought he’d defend working people, pay attention to the reality of what he’s doing, not just his rhetoric,” said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The concentration of power among so many players who once worked at Goldman is sure to feed suspicions of a government at the service of Wall Street.

Also, Mr. Trump plunged his quest for Secretary of State back into the spotlight on Friday by confirming that one frontrunner, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, will not join his Cabinet. Mr. Giuliani had recently come under media scrutiny over business dealings that could pose conflicts of interest.

Further, Mr. Trump denied on Saturday denied that he will work on the new series of reality television show ‘Celebrity Apprentice’, dismissing a report by CNN as “ridiculous” and “fake news“. — AP, AFP</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — In the heat of the presidential campaign, Donald Trump accused primary rival Ted Cruz of being controlled by Goldman Sachs because his wife, Heidi, previously worked for the Wall Street giant. He slammed Hillary Clinton for receiving speaking fees from the bank.

“I know the guys at Goldman Sachs. They have total, total control over him,” Trump said of Cruz. “Just like they have total control over Hillary Clinton.”

Now, Trump is putting Goldman executives at the helm of his administration’s economic team. He’s expected to name bank president Gary Cohn to an influential White House policy post, according to two people informed of the decision, and has already nominated former Goldman executive Steve Mnuchin to lead the Treasury Department. Steve Bannon, Trump’s incoming White House senior adviser, also worked at Goldman before becoming a conservative media executive.

Wall Street executives have long wielded influence in Washington, filling top jobs in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Goldman Sachs itself has produced several Treasury secretaries, White House chiefs of staff and top economic advisers.

But the financial industry’s high-level presence in Trump’s burgeoning administration runs counter to some core campaign messages that energized his supporters.

And Goldman Sachs stocks are up 33 percent since Trump’s election.

Trump repeatedly warned that Clinton’s Wall Street ties — the Democrat gave paid speeches to Goldman and other banks — meant she would never reform the financial industry. He promised that he would “drain the swamp” in Washington, a city he painted as beholden to financial and political special interests. And he cast himself as a champion for working-class people who watched the big banks grow wealthier after a government bailout, but haven’t seen the effects of an improving economy in their own lives.

“I’m not going to let Wall Street get away with murder,” Trump told voters in Iowa. “Wall Street has caused tremendous problems for us.”

To Democrats, the fact that Trump is now plucking advisers from Wall Street smacks of hypocrisy.

“Everyone who voted for Trump, who thought he’d defend working people, pay attention to the reality of what he’s doing, not just his rhetoric,” said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who railed against Wall Street’s influence in Washington when he ran against Clinton in the Democratic primary.

The concentration of power among so many players who once worked at Goldman is sure to feed suspicions of a government at the service of Wall Street. Goldman was involved in the securities market for subprime mortgages, the same financial instruments that helped fuel the housing bubble and ultimately led millions of Americans to lose their homes to foreclosure. Wall Street executives also opposed the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation signed by President Barack Obama, legislation Trump has vowed to overhaul.

Trump’s advisers dismiss charges that the president-elect is going back on his promises to put the interests of working-class Americans ahead of financial institutions. They say Trump is tapping people who bring real-world experience and business acumen to Washington.

“You’re not going to find better people than those who have been at the top of finance, the top of our markets, understand the way our markets work,” Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior adviser, said on MSNBC.

Democrats are sure to make an issue of Mnuchin’s Wall Street ties in his confirmation hearing. Cohn doesn’t need to be confirmed to serve as director of the National Economic Council, the White House post Trump is expected to name him to.

The NEC helps coordinate domestic and global issues, providing economic policy advice to the president and monitoring how the White House’s agenda is implemented across the government. If Cohn accepts the job, he also will be the third Goldman executive to run the NEC. Robert Rubin was the NEC director under Bill Clinton, and Stephen Friedman had the job during George W. Bush’s administration.</s>NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump is partaking in one of the nation's most storied football rivalries, saluting U.S. troops at the annual Army-Navy game on Saturday as he prepares to enter the White House.

The future commander-in-chief planned to attend the 117th game between the military academies at West Point and Annapolis, which is being held on relatively neutral ground, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.

Trump tweeted on Saturday morning that he was going to the game "as a show of support for our Armed Forces."

The appearance caps a week of rolling out Cabinet picks, holding "thank you" rallies in North Carolina, Iowa and Michigan, and trying to cement his incoming Senate majority with Saturday's runoff election in Louisiana.

The incoming president appeared jovial and relaxed as he plunged back into electoral politics on Friday, a full month after he won the presidency. He held large-scale events in Louisiana and in Michigan, where he regaled supporters in Grand Rapids by reciting his victories in battleground states.

Trump is the first Republican to win Michigan since George H.W. Bush in 1988. He attributed his feat to failures by Democrats.

"They forgot about you people," Trump said. "In four years they're not going to forget. But it's not going to work because you're not going to forget." Several protesters were removed from his rally at DeltaPlex Arena, prompting the president-elect to declare at one point, "Get 'em out of here."

Trump introduced Betsy DeVos, his choice for education secretary who hails from west Michigan, and announced that Andrew Liveris, the chief executive of Dow Chemical, would lead his American Manufacturing Council. Taking the stage, Liveris said the company would soon bring a new research-and-development center to Michigan.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Trump campaigned for Republican John Kennedy, the state treasurer who faces off Saturday against Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, a Democrat, for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. David Vitter. Neither won a majority in the November primary. Polls found Kennedy with a comfortable lead in the runoff.

While candidate Trump was often at odds with the establishment wing of his party, GOP leaders have broadly supported him as president-elect, and he's trying to consolidate any lingering factions, most immediately in Louisiana, where a Kennedy win would cement the party's four-vote advantage in the new Senate.

In private, people close to Trump said he was expected to name yet another Goldman Sachs executive to his White House team. The president-elect's National Economic Council is to be led by Gary Cohn, president and chief operating officer of the Wall Street bank, which Trump repeatedly complained during the election campaign would control Hillary Clinton if she won.

Major decisions remain — most importantly Trump's choice for secretary of state. The deliberations have become a source of tension within his transition team, with chief of staff Reince Priebus said to be backing Mitt Romney while other advisers oppose the idea of selecting the 2012 GOP nominee, given his fierce criticism of Trump during the campaign.

Trump announced that Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who was an early favorite, was no longer under consideration.

On a busy Friday, Trump also spoke by telephone with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who broke with protocol during the campaign to endorse Hillary Clinton and said afterward she would not maintain "a diplomatic silence in the face of attitudes of racism, sexism, misogyny or intolerance of any kind."

Sturgeon's office said she used Friday's call to emphasize the "values Scotland and the United States share." Trump's transition team described the conversation as a "short congratulatory call."
Donald Trump requests Gary Cohn, chief operating officer of investment bank Goldman Sachs, to join his administration as chair of the White House National Economic Council.