Trump picks Goldman Sachs executive for top economic post

Gary Cohn, Goldman's president and chief operating officer, has been offered the director of the key economic council to coordinate domestic and international economic issues.

Washington, Dec 10: US President-elect Donald Trump has picked a Goldman Sachs executive to head the White House National Economic Council, the media reported on Saturday.

Gary Cohn, Goldman's president and chief operating officer, has been offered the director of the key economic council to coordinate domestic and international economic issues in the Trump administration, Xinhua news agency reported.

If Cohen accepts the post, which does not require Senate confirmation, he will be the third Goldman-linked banker to join the Trump administration.

Trump's treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin and White House adviser Steve Bannon had also worked at Goldman.

While Trump repeatedly attacked Goldman and other Wall Street banks on the campaign trail, he has picked several wealthy businessmen with deep Wall Street ties into his cabinet, sparking criticism that he did not deliver his campaign promise to "drain the swamp" of powerful interests in Washington.

Bernie Sanders, a former Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Senator, blasted the Cohn appointment on Twitter.

"It's called a rigged economy and this is how it works," he said.

The National Economic Council was created by then-President Bill Clinton in 1993 and it has become the most important economic-policymaking body in the White House.

--IANS

py/