CNN
—
Billionaire businessman and lifelong Republican Stephen Schwarzman mentioned Friday he’ll assist the candidacy of Donald Trump with a “vote for change” after years of declining to again a specific GOP presidential candidate.
In an announcement, Schwarzman mentioned, “The dramatic rise of antisemitism has led me to give attention to the results of upcoming elections with larger urgency. I share the priority of most Individuals that our financial, immigration and overseas insurance policies are taking the nation within the fallacious path. For these causes, I’m planning to vote for change and assist Donald Trump for President. As well as, I will probably be supporting Republican Senate candidates and different Republicans up and down the ticket.”
The transfer represents a determined shift for Schwarzman, the CEO of the personal fairness agency Blackstone, who made feedback essential of Trump within the wake of the 2020 election and suggested in 2022 that the Republican Celebration wanted to hunt a “new technology” of leaders.
However that new crop of leaders didn’t materialize. Schwarzman declined to again Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Might 2023 after a gathering with the Republican presidential hopeful left Schwarzman uninspired.
Schwarzman supported Trump within the 2016 election and have become a trusted adviser as soon as Trump took workplace. The personal fairness mogul chaired a outstanding enterprise advisory council that weighed in on financial and commerce points and projected a public picture of assist from company America. However the group disbanded after Trump mentioned {that a} violent Charlottesville white nationalist rally had good individuals “on either side.”
“Bigotry, hatred and extremism are an affront to core American values and haven’t any place on this nation,” Schwarzman mentioned on the time.
Different prime executives at Blackstone, which manages $1 trillion, have backed Democrats. Jon Grey, the agency’s chief working officer, supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. Grey, the billionaire inheritor obvious to Schwarzman, has hosted fundraisers for President Joe Biden within the 2024 cycle.