Former Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn told CNBC that he feels “freer,” “more rested” and “happier” since exiting the White House, adding that he stands by his opposition to the trade tariffs that led to his departure.

“He may be a globalist, but I still like him. … He’s going to go out, make another couple hundred million, and then he’s going to maybe come back. He might come back, right? We’ll be here… another seven years, hopefully — that’s a long time. But I have a feeling you’ll be back.”

— President Trump, quoted by Politico, on economic adviser Gary Cohn leaving the White House.

Mike Allen reports that President Trump would be willing to entertain calling Gary Cohn back for a big job — White House chief of staff? — and Cohn would consider it.

Ben White: “One thing that didn’t make my Cohn story: If the president called him up in month or two and offered him chief of staff, he’d probably take it and go back in.”

Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn “has been rumored to be on the brink of leaving the White House for months but stayed for one main reason: to stop the president from imposing steep tariffs,” Politico reports.

“By Thursday afternoon, Cohn had lost the fight.”

“The decision came after a frantic 24 hours in which Cohn and others tried to walk Trump off the ledge. At one point, aides were sure Trump would make the announcement. Then they said he wouldn’t. Finally, sitting alongside steel executives, he did.”

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) told CNN that White House adviser Gary Cohn took a call from President Trump during a discussion with Democratic senators about tax reform.

Said Carper: “Gary gets up and takes a call on his cellphone, comes back into the room, and says, we have somebody calling in from Asia, and it was the president, which was nice. Nice of him to do that. 15 minutes later, the president is still talking. And I said to Gary, it was a room where we’re all sitting around this big table, and I said, Gary why don’t you do this… just say, ‘Mr. President, you’re brilliant! But we’re losing contact, and I think we’re going to lose you now, so good-bye.'”

He added: “And that’s what he did, and he hung up.”

Vanity Fair: “Working for Trump has been slowly eroding the reputation he spent 27 years crafting so meticulously at Goldman. His angst came to a head in August, during the 10 days after a group of white nationalists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, when Trump repeatedly fumbled his response to an incident that left one protester dead. As Kate Kelly and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times reported on August 25, Cohn drafted a letter of resignation, and was prepared to deliver it to Trump.”

“What has not been previously reported is that, according to a source with detailed knowledge of this thinking during that period, Cohn sought to resign twice while speaking directly to Trump during that 10-day period. He also spoke with John Kelly, the new chief of staff, about his desire to resign. But apparently, resigning from Trumpworld is far more difficult than one would expect. Cohn’s continued presence in the West Wing is a testament to a reality that is rapidly becoming crystalline: that Cohn, along with Kelly, Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, and Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, are all that is standing between Trump and utter chaos and incompetence.”