Home / Top News / Schwarzman and CEOs dispute Trump account of who disbanded policy forum

Schwarzman and CEOs dispute Trump account of who disbanded policy forum


Steve Schwarzman, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Blackstone Group LP.

Mary Catherine Wellons | CNBC

Steve Schwarzman, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Blackstone Group LP.

Blackstone co-founder Steve Schwarzman and other CEOs on the now-defunct White House policy forum were perplexed by President Donald Trump’s efforts to take responsibility for disbanding the group, sources told The New York Times.

Schwarzman, who chaired the group, thought he had an agreement with the White House to announce that the idea of ending the Strategic and Policy Forum was a joint decision, the Times reported.

The CEOs decided during a Wednesday morning conference call to dissolve the forum in the uproar that followed Trump’s news conference in which he made comments that were deemed supportive of white supremacists.

Shortly thereafter, Schwarzman called Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and advisor, to let the White House know about their decision, the Times said.

Kushner asked Schwarzman if they would write in the press release that they were ending the group in agreement with the president. Schwarzman agreed, according to the Times.

But as reports were surfacing that the Strategic and Policy Forum was disbanding, Trump on Wednesday afternoon tweeted he was ending the forum as well as another White House advisory group, the manufacturing council.

Schwarzman and the CEOs on the policy forum were shocked and disputed Trump’s notion that he ended things when in fact they did, the newspaper said.

The White House had no immediate comment in an email to CNBC on Thursday.

Read the entire New York Times article on the behind-the-scenes moves that led to the fracture Trump’s relationship with corporate America.

About admin

Check Also

How yelling at kids affects their happiness, success

Almost every parent yells at their child eventually, no matter how hard they try to …