WASHINGTON — When Gary D. Cohn was considering resigning as the top White House economic adviser after President Trump blamed “both sides” in a deadly white nationalist protest in Charlottesville, Va., his first stop was a meeting with Mr. Trump’s children.
In a conversation in August 2017 with Ivanka Trump, the president’s eldest daughter and senior adviser, Mr. Cohn was shocked by her reaction to his concerns, according to a new book about Ms. Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner.
“My dad’s not a racist; he didn’t mean any of it,” Ms. Trump said of the president’s refusal to condemn white nationalists outright. Appearing to channel her father, she added, “That’s not what he said.”