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Ken Griffin, CEO of investment firm Citadel and a Republican mega-donor, called former President Donald Trump a “three-time loser” and said he hoped Trump would not run for the White House again.
“I would like to think that the Republican party is ready to move on from someone who has been a three-time loser for this party,” Griffin said Wednesday at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
While Griffin praised Trump for launching the 2020 COVID-19 vaccines, he referenced Trump’s failed 2020 presidential bid, the results of this year’s midterms, and the GOP’s loss of two Georgia Senate seats in 2021 .
“I really hope President Trump sees the writing on the wall,” Griffin said. His remarks came before Trump announced his 2024 bid at Mar-a-Lago.
Griffin expressed his support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, who has yet to announce a 2024 presidential campaign.
“DeSantis is going to run on a record of just incredible achievement,” Griffin said, noting that the governor won re-election by 20 percentage points in a once-hot contest.
Griffin donated $5 million to DeSantis’ 2018 re-election campaign, according to data from the transparency website OpenSecrets. He gave another $5 million to DeSantis in April 2021, per NBC.
Trump and DeSantis are expected to clash over the Republican presidential nomination, with Trump taunting the Florida governor with a mocking nickname, “Ron DeSantimonius.” DeSantis on Wednesday dodged questions about the Democratic Party’s civil war with the former president, saying people should “calm down” after the midterms.
Trump has been blamed by some Republicans for the GOP’s poor performance this election, after the party failed to take the Senate but won the House.
Griffin, however, said he was pleased with the interim results, saying the split vote showed people came out to vote. “It was a triumph of democracy,” he said.
In 2018, Griffin donated $1 million to Trump’s Future45 PAC, according to OpenSecrets data.
In all, the CEO has put nearly $60 million into Republican campaigns this election cycle, making him the second-largest current GOP donor, according to Politico. The only Republican donor to spend more this cycle is Schlitz beer heir Richard Uihlein, who has given about $62 million, per outlet.
Zia Ahmed, a spokesman for Griffin, told Insider he had nothing to add to the billionaire’s comments.
Reps for Trump and DeSantis did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
November 17, 2022: This story has been updated to reflect comment from Ken Griffin’s representative.
