Gary Cohn, President Trump’s former top economic adviser, said in an interview published Thursday that the partial government shutdown is “completely wrong” and that he is confused by the White House’s strategy in the standoff with Congress.
In the interview, Cohn criticized the shutdown as “completely wrong” and said the furloughing of thousands of federal workers “makes absolutely no sense whatsoever,” according to the Globe.
Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion for funding a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border remains the sticking point in a partisan stalemate that has closed large parts of the government since Dec. 22.
Cohn, a free-trade advocate, stepped down as director of the National Economic Council March 6 after Trump announced he was imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.