Blackstone’s Schwarzman defends Trump on exec call

Hours after President Donald Trump questioned the results of the presidential election and falsely claimed that voter fraud had occurred, about 30 chief executives of major companies gathered on an emergency Zoom call.

Among them was Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman, who defended Trump’s response to the election results, the Financial Times reported.

On the call, Schwarzman questioned why Pennsylvania leaned toward Trump at the beginning of the night, only for later counts to go towards President-elect Joe Biden. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, whose company is based in Philadelphia, reportedly explained that mail-in ballots in the state were not permitted to be counted prior to election day.

Additionally, Schwarzman said there had been reports of ballots arriving days after the election and that some of them may not have been real. These claims have not been proven.

Even though more real estate players donated to Biden than Trump in the run-up to the presidential election, Schwarzman remained an avid supporter of Trump. The Blackstone chief donated $3 million to America First Action, a super-PAC aligned with Trump.

The nonpartisan group the Center for Responsive Politics found that executives and employees from private equity firms donated $21 billion to Biden’s campaign and other Democratic groups in this election cycle, compared to $3.6 million for Trump. Blackstone president Jonathan Gray also hosted a Biden fund-raiser over the summer.

“As an American, Steve believes the electoral system is sound and that the democratic process will play out in an orderly and legal manner, as it has throughout our nation’s history,” Blackstone told the Financial Times.

[FT] — Sasha Jones