Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman was one of the top donors to Chris Christie’s abortive campaign for the US Republican presidential nomination, according to new federal filings, marking a turning point in his relationship with Donald Trump.
Schwarzman gave $2mn to a pro-Christie super Pac, Tell It Like It Is, in late August, the filings show.
The former New Jersey governor launched his presidential campaign in June, attacking the former president as a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog” who was unfit to reclaim his former office. Christie dropped out of the race in January and Trump remains the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination.
Schwarzman was once a Trump ally, giving millions to support his re-election in 2020 and defending his actions to fellow CEOs in the immediate aftermath of his loss to Joe Biden that year.
In 2017, Schwarzman chaired an advisory board to then-president Trump and travelled with him to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh then pledged to match up to $20bn in contributions from other investors to a Blackstone infrastructure fund.
The advisory panel disbanded soon after Trump proclaimed there was “blame on both sides” of a white nationalist rally that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia.
But after the Republicans’ disappointing 2022 midterm elections, the GOP mega donor said he would not support Trump and would look for “a new generation of leaders”.
A Schwarzman representative declined to comment.
Other top donors to Tell It Like It Is included billionaire investors Stanley Druckenmiller, Jeff Yass, Cliff Asness and Bill Ackman, as well as DraftKings CEO Jason Robins, Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill and hedge fund billionaire David Tepper, who owns the Carolina Panthers.
Christie reportedly worked as a consultant for DraftKings after he supported legalising sports betting as New Jersey governor.
Additional reporting by Sam Learner in New York
