On May 30, 2024, former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump returned to Trump Tower after being convicted in a criminal trial in New York City.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump will attend a private meeting with one of Washington’s most powerful business lobby groups in an attempt to build an alliance with major corporate leaders.
Business Roundtable CEO Joshua Bolten confirmed in an email to members on Wednesday that Trump will attend the organization’s plenary meeting in Washington on June 13.
Although President Joe Biden was invited, he was unable to attend due to travel abroad G7 meeting. The business group instead invited White House chief of staff Jeff Zients to come, according to Bolten’s email. Zients accepted the invitation last week and plans to address the group on June 13, according to a person familiar with the matter. Biden Speech at the group quarterly meeting 2022.
Bolten wrote in the message that the meeting was private and closed to the media, and Trump’s team confirmed to attendees that the former president would attend.
A spokesman for the Trump campaign declined to comment. The Business Roundtable did not respond to a request for comment.
The invitation to members comes nearly a week after Trump was convicted in New York of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to porn stars. Trump continues to deny the accusations.
The meeting is likely to attract all members of the Business Roundtable, including more than 200 CEOs. It could be a critical moment for Trump, who has been trying to win over business leaders to support and donate to his presidential campaign while promoting the idea of tax cuts that would be enacted across the board if he defeats Biden in November. tariff.
The group’s members include Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman, who recently endorsed Trump after saying he wanted to support a replacement for the former president in 2022. Other members include JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Carlyle Group CEO Harvey Schwartz, AT&T CEO John Stankey and Chevron CEO Mike Voth.
The Business Roundtable has not always supported the policies of Trump’s presidency.
While the group welcomed Trump’s tax cuts, it questioned the then-president’s policy of imposing tariffs on Chinese products.
many of its members Resigned The award was given by the White House Business Advisory Council in 2017 in the wake of the white nationalist attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Chuck Robbins, Cisco’s chairman and CEO and current president of the Business Roundtable, said at the time that “it’s incomprehensible that we’re having this conversation in 2017,” and that his company condemned “racism, discrimination, Neo-Nazism, white discrimination.” hegemony. “
After the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, the Business Roundtable condemned the attack and called on Trump to “end the chaos and facilitate the peaceful transition of power.”
Still, Trump has often sought to curry favor with wealthy business leaders, despite his clear differences with some of them.
Susie Wiles, Trump’s senior campaign adviser, spoke before a group of powerful Republican megadonors in Florida in January, outlining why she believed they should support Trump. The group is led by veteran investor Paul Singer.
Even after the conviction, Republican-leaning business leaders dismissed Trump’s conviction and in some cases offered more support. Trump Action announced it raised more than $50 million in the 24 hours following last week’s guilty verdict.
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