Billionaire GOP Mega-Donor Rips Trump Corruption: Been ‘Very Enriching to the Families’ of Admin Officials
Alex Griffing
Wed, February 4, 2026
Billionaire GOP mega-donor Ken Griffin accuses Trump administration of corruption and questions if public interest is being served.See more
Billionaire GOP mega-donor and past Trump supporter Ken Griffin accused the Trump administration this week of corruption and warned that business leaders are concerned about getting trapped in a loop of government coercion.
“This administration has definitely made missteps in choosing decisions or courses that have been very, very enriching to the families of those in the administration,” Griffin said during a conference in West Palm Beach on Tuesday. The Citadel founder was speaking at an event hosted by The Wall Street Journal and added, “That calls into question: is the public interest being served?”
“One of the things that you want to believe is that those who serve the public interest have the public interest at heart in everything they do,” Griffin added.
Griffin’s comments come amid new reporting that Trump and his sons pocketed an eyepopping $500 million investment linked to the United Arab Emirates in their crypto company just ahead of Trump’s second inauguration. The New York Times also reported last month that by its count, Trump and his family have made $1.4 billion since taking office a second time, a figure the Times called a “minimum” accounting.
White House spokesman Kush Desai responded to Griffin’s comments in a statement to the Financial Times:
The only special interest guiding the Trump administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people. The fact that major stock indexes have hit multiple all-time highs, real wages have grown, and inflation has cooled since President Trump took office is proof that this administration is delivering for every American.
Griffin donated tens of millions to the GOP in 2024, but declined to endorse Trump directly. He has since been a tough critic of the president on various issues, namely tariffs, which he warned put the U.S. “on a slippery slope to crony capitalism.”
Griffin also slammed the administration’s approach to corporate America and the seemingly quid-pro-quo relationships Trump has forged with major business leaders.
The FT reported on Griffin’s comments, writing, “Griffin said the dynamic has generated concerns that the US would enter a continuous cycle of corporate leaders needing to pander to whomever is in power, instead of relying on the success of their business.”
Griffin was quoted on the subject as warning, “Most CEOs just don’t want to find themselves in the business of having to in some sense suck up to one administration after another to succeed in running their businesses.”
The post Billionaire GOP Mega-Donor Rips Trump Corruption: Been ‘Very Enriching to the Families’ of Admin Officials first appeared on Mediaite.
Ken Griffin is apparently done with ‘sucking up’ to the White House
A carousel of CEOs has paraded through the White House since President Trump was elected a little over a year ago—they even made up a front-row bench at his inauguration. This isn’t unusual; in fact, it’s entirely expected that the president might want to engage with the private sector.
But when does that relationship get too close for comfort?
The nature of the relationships between top brass at America’s largest businesses and the Oval Office is beginning to make some people uncomfortable: As Citadel CEO Ken Griffin warned this week: “When the U.S. government starts to engage in corporate America in a way that tastes of favoritism, I know for most CEOs that I’m friends with, they find it incredibly distasteful.”
Trading conditions under Trump 2.0 have been markedly different from the previous decade, throwing markets and executives into disarray. In the volatility following Trump’s Liberation Day announcement in April, Griffin said the sight of business leaders lining up at the Oval Office door to request exceptions to the new duties was “nauseating,” and that the White House showing favor to certain companies undermines the American Dream.
An environment addled by politics isn’t one most CEOs relish, Griffin, 57, told the Wall Street Journal’s Invest Live conference yesterday. He said founders and leaders “want to go run our businesses and win on the merits of providing a better product to our customers at a lower price. Like, that’s how we win.”
Griffin warned executives are thinking: “‘I’m close to this administration, but does that mean the next administration is going to grant a favor to one of my competitors, or take a favor away from me, because I don’t support them publicly?’”
This second-guessing isn’t conducive to decision-making, Griffin added: “Most CEOs just don’t want to find themselves in the business of having to, in some sense, suck up to one administration after another to succeed in running their business.”
Griffin, himself a top GOP donor, has been something of a critical friend to the White House. He has been candid in his warnings, but has also highlighted Trump’s return to the Oval Office was a welcome relief from the “regulatory onslaught” companies faced under Biden.
Speaking to Fox Business weeks ago, Griffin (a native Floridian who has shifted his operations away from New York and in the direction of the Sunshine State) said to have that “literally end on one day—Election Day—just gives you so much energy as an entrepreneur to go back and build your damn business.”
That said, the man worth $51.2 billion, per Forbes, also highlighted the individual gains extended to the families of the Trump administration. “One of the things that you want to believe is that those who serve the public interest have the public interest at heart in everything they do,” he said. “And I think that this administration has definitely made missteps in choosing decisions or courses that have been very, very enriching to the families of those in the administration.”
‘Extinguished’ voice of corporate America
While Griffin was critical of CEOs using their position for individual benefit, he made it clear the opinions of corporate leaders should still bear weight in national conversation.
Companies caught in “the whole woke movement” served as a lesson to corporate leaders that consumers could make or break their business overnight, said Griffin, claiming it had “created a level of fear and apprehension amongst the corporate CEO class to insert themselves in any publicly facing issues these days.”
Griffin pointed to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who served a brief stint in the White House, leading the highly controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE’s work was heavily criticized, as it included slashing billions from foreign aid budgets, which philanthropists like Bill Gates warned would lead to the deaths of millions of children.
While Griffin admitted, “We can do more than quibble about some of the choices or things that [Musk] said,” he added, “we should admire that willingness to give up oneself to make our country better.”
The Citadel CEO has argued before that American business leaders should speak their mind, especially to the president. Talking with Bloomberg at Davos, Griffin said: “I’m willing to speak my mind about the policies … because [Trump] listens. American business executives are making a real mistake in not speaking their mind, because this president—he’ll have his moments where he’ll troll, he’ll have those moments—but he does listen.
“We need the voices of America’s corporate leadership in the halls of Washington, on the front page of papers, to talk about the issues that we need to have for domestic prosperity,” Griffin added this week.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Alex Griffing
Mon, February 2, 2026
President Trump was asked about a Wall Street Journal report alleging that a crypto company owned by him received a half-billion-dollar investment from the UAE before he took office, linked to sensitive processing chips being provided to the UAE.See more
President Donald Trump was asked on Monday in the Oval Office to react to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal that a crypto company owned by him and his family received a half-billion-dollar investment from a foreign country, the United Arab Emirates, just days before he took office.
The WSJ report also linked the investment to the UAE gaining access to highly sensitive processing chips that the previous administration had withheld over national security concerns. The WSJ was the first to report on what it called an “unprecedented” and “secret” deal between a U.S. president and a foreign country.
“Mr. President, the Wall Street Journal reported that the royal family of Abu Dhabi invested hundreds of millions of dollars in World Liberty Financial. Can you explain why you decided to take that investment? Was that a transaction?” Trump was asked by CNN’s Jeff Zeleny.
“Well, I don’t know about it. I know that crypto is a big thing and they like it. A lot of people like it, the people behind me like it. My sons are handling that. My family is handling it. And I guess they get investments from different people, but I’m not—I have all I can handle right now with Iran and with Russia and Ukraine and with all the things we’re doing. So I don’t know. I don’t know exactly, other than, you know, I’m a big crypto person. I’m the one that probably helped crypto more than anybody, because I believe in it,” Trump replied, dodging the question.
“And the reason I believe in it is because if we don’t do it, Scott, I think we can say then China is going to do it. If we don’t do crypto, then China’s going to do it, and it’s just like AI. We’re leading AI by a lot. And if we weren’t leading, China would have led. You know, they’re very capable. They’re very good. What do you have to say about that?” Trump added, turning to his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
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