WASHINGTON — After weeks of infighting in the Trump White House, one adviser whose stock is clearly rising is the relatively little-known director of the National Economic Council, Gary Cohn — a registered Democrat who is widely regarded as one of the most liberal voices in the White House. A Trump ally told Yahoo News that Cohn has even earned a nickname among some administration officials and Capitol Hill Republicans: Globalist Gary.

According to news reports published on Friday, President Trump is considering replacing chief of staff Reince Priebus, and Cohn is on the short list. A source close to the White House says the push for a shakeup is coming from Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, and is motivated not by ideology but by frustration over the administration’s “lack of ability to execute crisply and to mount any momentum” for the president’s agenda. Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence “are trying to come up with names of people who know how to get things done in Washington,” the source said.

However, as usual, it’s difficult to make a clear forecast based on the rumblings in Trump’s White House, and some members of the inner circle are insisting that there will be no imminent shakeup. One source close to Kushner told Yahoo News that the rumors are completely “overstated.”

And while Cohn is in the mix if Priebus takes the fall for the White House dysfunction, the source who predicted a shakeup identified House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy as the leading candidate for the chief of staff job. McCarthy’s advantage, the source indicated, is his presumed ability to get bills through Congress. Along with Cohn and McCarthy, others on the short list are believed to be political consultant David Urban and longtime Republican fundraiser and lobbyist Wayne Berman, now a principal at the private equity giant Blackstone.

Whether or not Cohn is in line for Priebus’s job, his influence is clearly growing. As head of the NEC, Cohn coordinates the president’s economic policymaking process and oversees the advice given to the president in this arena. And his portfolio already seems to extend beyond economic policy. Photos released by the White House show that Cohn was in the room Thursday night as Trump launched airstrikes against the Assad regime in Syria.

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) More

In the ongoing struggle for influence in the White House, Cohn has become a lightning rod for members of other factions in the president’s inner circle who fear he’s exercising a powerful liberal influence on the administration. Four different sources close to the president told Yahoo News that Cohn is the object of growing concern among Trump’s conservative allies — especially the populist nexus around chief strategist Steve Bannon.

Sam Nunberg, a conservative consultant who was an early adviser of Trump’s and remains well connected to the president’s inner circle, would say only one thing about Cohn: “Gary Cohn would be too liberal for the Obama administration. I don’t know what he’s doing in a Republican White House.”

Cohn came to the Trump administration from Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs, where he spent more than 25 years and rose to become the firm’s president and chief operating officer. During his banking career, Cohn was a proponent of free trade, lower foreign tariffs and a moderate immigration stance, views that are a far cry from the nationalist and populist agenda Trump espoused on the campaign trail last year. Cohn also has a lengthy history of political donations and has given more than $275,000 to Democrats and about $225,000 to Republicans. Cohn gave money to Trump’s election opponent, Hillary Clinton, during her 2008 presidential bid. He did not make a donation to Trump’s campaign last year.