The Latest: Trump economic adviser Cohn says he’ll stay put

WASHINGTON – The Latest on President Donald Trump’s economic adviser and his tax plan (all times local):

3:25 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser says he’s sticking around in the Trump administration for the chance to rewrite the nation’s tax laws.

Gary Cohn had sharply denounced Trump’s response to the racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month. Cohn, who is Jewish, was so upset that he considered resigning, according to news reports.

On Thursday, he told reporters that he’s sticking around in the Trump administration because of the president’s plan for tax cuts. He said, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He added that he would “never miss this.”

Cohn appeared with Trump when the president defended his original assessment that “both sides” were responsible for the violence and suggested that some of those who marched with the KKK and neo-Nazis were “fine people.”

___

2:07 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s economic adviser is pushing back against the suggestion that the administration’s tax plan could benefit the wealthy.

Gary Cohn insisted Thursday that the plan is “purely aimed at middle-class families.”

Pressed on whether Trump himself could see a tax cut under the plan, Cohn told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the administration is “very confident that Americans are getting a great deal here.” He added: “we have also said wealthy Americans are not getting a tax cut.”

The blueprint released Wednesday by Trump and congressional Republicans is a sweeping, nearly $6 trillion tax cut that would deeply reduce taxes for corporations, simplify everyone’s brackets and nearly double the standard deduction used by most Americans.