Wall Street Billionaires Are Rushing to Back Trump، Verdict Be Damned

A growing number of financial elites are throwing their weight behind Trump، who was found guilty in the first criminal trial of a former US president.

Before 12 New Yorkers branded Donald Trump a felon، a very different kind of jury — one assembled at the sumptuous Pierre hotel on Fifth Avenue — had reached a verdict of its own.
Even if the courtroom jury found him guilty as charged، the wealthy Wall Streeters at the Pierre concluded، he’d still be their choice for the White House.
That meeting، 16 days prior to Thursday’s historic verdict، laid bare the cool calculus now at play in American finance.
From longtime supporters to reluctant fellow travelers، a growing number of prominent figures in US business and finance are embracing the possibility of a Trump restoration — criminal conviction be damned.

“This verdict will have less than zero impact on my support،” Omeed Malik، president of 1789 Capital and a co-host of the Pierre fundraiser for Trump، said as he processed the news Thursday evening. Echoing Trump and Republican leaders، Malik characterized the entire hush-money trial as a “weaponization of the legal system” and “jurisdictional justice.”
This much is certain: Some financiers who abandoned Trump after his supporters stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6، 2021 — and kept their distance as he continued to claim falsely that the 2020 election was stolen — are now throwing their weight behind him again.

A big reason، in a word: money. Trump has promised to cut taxes for the wealthy and eliminate regulations. President Joe Biden wants the opposite.
The gilded fundraiser at the Pierre، hosted by billionaire Howard Lutnick، reached deep pockets in high-caste Manhattan، even as Trump’s landmark trial was unfolding in tawdry detail in a dingy courtroom downtown. Malik doubted the guilty verdict would change the mind of a single person who was there.

Waiting to learn the decision

Or the minds of many others، it seems. Less than two weeks after that gathering، without waiting to learn the jury’s decision، private-equity mogul and longtime Republican donor Stephen Schwarzman announced he was getting behind Trump again. The Blackstone Inc. co-founder is among the 40 richest people in the world، with a $41 billion fortune، according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

On Thursday hours before the verdict reverberated through Wall Street and Washington، another prominent New York billionaire، hedge fund investor Bill Ackman، was said to be leaning toward backing the former president too. Later، in a post on X، Ackman pointed to a tweet by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suggesting the US justice system — the Manhattan prosecutor in the case، the judge and even the jury — had been “bent” for political aims. Similar claims shot across social media.
A spokesperson for Ackman declined to comment، while Schwarzman and Lutnick couldn’t be reached for comment after the guilty verdict.