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Billionaire Donors Are Moving Back to Trump. Everyone Except Ken Griffin.

Washington Post reported:

The day after a pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, billionaire and GOP megadonor Nelson Peltz called the riot a “disgrace” and expressed remorse for voting for Donald Trump. “I’m sorry I did that,” Peltz said of supporting Trump in 2020.

But earlier this month, Peltz had breakfast with Trump and other billionaires — including hotelier Steve Wynn, Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk and former Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter — at Peltz’s luxurious oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private gathering.

Peltz, a renowned activist investor currently in a battle over Disney, then told the Financial Times that he would “probably” vote for the GOP front-runner in 2024. The New York Times first reported that Trump dined with Musk and other donors but did not name Peltz, Wynn or Perlmutter.

The shift reflects many conservative billionaires’ fears of President Biden’s tax agenda, which if approved would drastically reduce their fortunes. In some cases, it also points to their discomfort with the Biden administration’s foreign and domestic policy decisions. Some of these billionaires have been assiduously courted by Trump and his advisers in recent months.

“If it starts to look like Trump may win, despite his legal troubles, it is inevitable that Republican businesspeople who have not been fans will open their wallets in self-defense,” said Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York City, the top lobbying group for major corporations in New York.

Some of these donors are not enthusiastic supporters of Trump — they wanted other candidates and still express misgivings about Trump and his ability to win a general election. “This isn’t a passionate embrace. It’s just reality,” one person close to major donors said. “No one is particularly excited about it.”

Trump’s team has used a soft touch with the billionaires and has shown more sophistication than some expected, according to a person with knowledge of the talks, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal details of the interactions. At the center of some of the discussions has been top Trump aide Susie Wiles, who often comes armed with data and is viewed as “impressive and professional,” a person who heard her pitch said. Trump is also growing his fundraising team in Palm Beach, where Republican National Committee employees and others are expecting to move to raise money.

“She has given some of the donors a reason to feel better about it,” this person said. When one wealthy donor asked in a Palm Beach meeting whether Trump could win suburban and independent voters, she was prepared with slides and data, the person said.

And at Wiles’s suggestion, Trump has engaged in “call time,” dialing billionaires himself. In the past, he had been resistant to such measures.

Next month, he is planning a fundraiser hosted by a range of billionaires, including oil tycoon Harold Hamm, sugar magnate Jose “Pepe” Fanjul, real estate mogul Howard Lutnick, megadonors Rebekah and Bob Mercer, wealthy business executives Todd Ricketts and Warren Stephens and real estate magnate Steve Witkoff, according to an invitation reviewed by The Washington Post.

The price of admission is $250,000, but many donors are giving the maximum contribution of $814,600 — which will be split between Trump’s campaign and other entities, including the Republican National Committee and a leadership PAC that pays many of his legal bills. It is being hosted by John Paulson, a billionaire investor backing Trump. Giving $814,600 gets a seat at Trump’s table.

A Trump adviser said the event is expected to raise about $33 million. Trump advisers said that while they do not expect to have as much money as Biden’s campaign and the DNC, they believe they can close the gap.

“We are not only raising the necessary funds, but we are deploying strategic assets that will help send President Trump back to the White House and carry Republicans over the finish line,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.

Wynn has helped orchestrate some of the conversations. He and Trump talk regularly. But Trump in recent months has complained that Wynn has not given him a dollar even though they have been friends for years, according to people familiar with the remarks. Now, Wynn is headlining the fundraiser as well.

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, who rejected Trump in the 2024 GOP primaries, is now considering backing the former president, people familiar with the matter said. A top adviser to Schwarzman has spoken to multiple Trump advisers in recent weeks, according to the people familiar, but Schwarzman has not made a final decision on giving.

Oracle’s Larry Ellison — a billionaire who backed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley in the GOP primaries — is in discussions about writing a large check in support of Trump, people familiar with the matter said. Trump and his aides have courted Ellison in recent weeks. Richard Uihlein and Elizabeth Uihlein, conservative billionaires and heirs to the Schlitz brewing fortune, told the Financial Times that they will donate to Trump as well.

Perlmutter, a prominent presence at Mar-a-Lago, is working on an outside group to support the former president, according to people familiar with his activities.

There are some holdouts. Citadel CEO and billionaire Ken Griffin remains resistant to giving money to Trump and has told others he does not have plans to fall in line with Trump, according to people who have spoken to him. Billionaire investor Peter Thiel, at one time Trump’s biggest backer in Silicon Valley, still plans to stay out of politics this cycle and has rebuffed efforts from Trump’s team to garner support, said a person familiar with his thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe his views.

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