Blackstone CEO and co-founder Stephen Schwarzman said on Friday he would support Donald Trump for president in 2024, after distancing himself from Trump ahead of the Republican primary.
“I share the concerns of most Americans that our economy, immigration and foreign policy are leading the country in the wrong direction,” Schwarzman said in a statement first released to Fox News Digital. Axios reported: on friday.
“For these reasons, I intend to vote for a change and support Donald Trump for president, as well as the Republican candidates for Senate and other Republicans.”
Schwarzman, who briefly served as chairman of Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, added that “the dramatic rise in anti-Semitism has caused me to focus with even greater urgency on the outcome of the upcoming election.”
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Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and former President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
Biden has been heavily criticized by Republicans, including President Trump, for not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism, particularly in response to the anti-Israel protests that have erupted on college campuses across the country in the past few months.
Schwarzman, who co-founded the Blackstone private equity firm in 1985 and is worth an estimated $39 billion, had opposed the idea of Trump running for president again. Said in 2022 It’s time for the Republican Party to look in a new direction.
“America is better when its leaders are rooted in today and tomorrow, not today and yesterday,” Schwarzman said. “It’s time for the Republican Party to turn to a new generation of leaders, and I intend to endorse one of them in the presidential primary.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump (right) delivers opening remarks at the start of a policy forum with business leaders chaired by Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump and Biden campaigns for comment but did not receive a response.
Republican big donors have been rallying around Trump in recent months as the former president tries to close the funding gap with Biden’s campaign.
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Former President Donald Trump held a rally on May 23, 2024, in the historically Democratic neighborhood of South Bronx in New York City. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
Biden had consistently outraised Trump in monthly fundraising until April, but for the first time this term, Trump has surpassed him.
Trump’s April giving was boosted by a record $50.5 million the former president’s campaign raised at a single event for top Republican donors at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of billionaire investor John Paulson earlier that month.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
