White House's Gary Cohn: I didn't leave Trump admin after Charlottesville because tax cuts are too important

Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump's chief economic adviser, was "anguished" by the president's remarks after the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville last month, and was said to have penned his resignation in the days following. He went on to refute the president's claims that there were "very good people" on the side of the neo-Nazis and klansmen in Charlottesville -- much to the chagrin of Trump.

Nevertheless, he persisted in his position leading the Trump administration's tax reforms -- and during his appearance behind the press shop's podium, one journalist took him to task for staying on.

Cohn on why he decided to stay at WH in the wake Charlottesville: Tax reform is a "once in a lifetime opportunity" https://t.co/pfFm8awxFG

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 28, 2017

"Why did you decide to stay at the White House in the wake of Charlottesville," CNN White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny asked Cohn.

Cohn then responded to the first part about Zeleny's question about the timetable for the White House's tax reform plans before getting around to the Charlottesville question.

"Why am I here?" he said. "I'm here just for this reason. Think about the opportunity that I'm involved in with President Trump in being able to rewrite the tax code."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I would never miss this," Cohn concluded.