GOP mega-donor Ken Griffin, who's poured $60 million into Republican campaigns this cycle, called Trump a '3-time loser' and said he shouldn't run for president
Mike Blake/Reuters
- GOP mega-donor and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin called Donald Trump a "three-time loser."
- He said he hopes Trump "sees the writing on the wall" and doesn't run for president.
- Griffin has donated nearly $60 million to Republicans this cycle, and $1 million to Trump's PAC in 2018.
Ken Griffin, the CEO of investment firm Citadel and a Republican mega-donor, called former President Donald Trump a "three-time loser" and said he hoped Trump wouldn't run for the White House again.
"I'd like to think that the Republican party is ready to move on from somebody who has been for this party a three-time loser," Griffin said on Wednesday at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
While Griffin praised Trump for his rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020, he referenced Trump's failed presidential bid in 2020, the results of this year's midterms, and the Republican party's loss of two Georgia Senate seats in 2021.
"I really hope that President Trump sees the writing on the wall," Griffin said. His remarks came before Trump announced his 2024 bid at Mar-a-Lago.
Griffin voiced support for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has yet to announce a presidential campaign for 2024.
"DeSantis is going to run on a record of just unbelievable accomplishment," Griffin said, noting that the governor won reelection by 20 percentage points in a once-hotly contested state.
Griffin donated $5 million to DeSantis' reelection campaign in 2018, according to data from the transparency website OpenSecrets. He gave another $5 million to DeSantis in April 2021, per NBC.
Trump and DeSantis are anticipated to clash for the Republican presidential nomination, with Trump deriding the Florida governor with a mocking nickname, "Ron DeSanctimonious." DeSantis on Wednesday dodged questions about a brewing GOP civil war with the former president, saying people need to "chill out" after the midterms.
Trump has been blamed by some Republicans for the GOP's bad performance this election after the party failed to take the Senate but won the House.
Griffin, however, said he was happy with the midterm results, saying the split votes showed that people came out to cast their ballots. "It was a triumph of democracy," he said.
In 2018, Griffin donated $1 million to Trump's Future45 PAC, per OpenSecrets data.
In total, the CEO has put nearly $60 million into Republican campaigns this election cycle, becoming the second-largest current GOP donor, according to Politico. The only Republican donor who's spent more this cycle is Schlitz Beer heir Richard Uihlein, who has donated around $62 million, per the outlet.
Representatives for Griffin, Trump, and DeSantis did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
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