Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin cast doubt on Nikki Haley’s chances of winning the 2024 presidential election despite donating $5 million to a super PAC endorsing the former South Carolina governor.
“It’s a narrower road than it was eight weeks ago,” Griffin told CNBC Tuesday of Nikki’s chance at landing in the White House.
“It’s just narrower,” Griffin repeated, adding: “I know many of us, me included, you know, struggle with some of Trump’s behaviors, but there was a dimension of greater global security with him as president, particularly from US interests.”
Though the 2024 presidential election is shaping up to be a face-off between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Griffin didn’t disclose who his No. 2 candidate is behind Haley.
And despite Griffin has dished a total of $5 million across two donations to a pro-Haley super PAC, he cast doubt on whether Haley can eclipse Trump, who the hedge fund titan called “the martyr right now.”
“I think there’s a sense of, do we want to return to a president who is just viewed as more powerful, more in charge? And that’s going to be difficult for Nikki to overcome right now,” Griffin told CNBC.
“I think we all felt safer with Trump as president than we do right now,” he added, per the outlet, noting that in his four years in office, Trump implemented “really good policies for America.”
Meanwhile, Griffin said he “will continue my focus on actively supporting US House and Senate candidates prioritizing economic freedom and a strong defense of America at home and abroad,” Griffin said in a separate statement on Tuesday, according to the Financial Times.
Haley has vowed to continue her campaign until at least the primary in South Carolina on Feb. 24 — where she served as governor from 2011 to 2017.
“[Haley’s] poise, admirable. Her foreign policy experience, tremendous. Her ability to unite this country, phenomenal. I just don’t know though that at this moment that’s going to get her where she needs to get to in South Carolina and thereafter,” Griffin told CNBC.
Griffin said the next commander-in-chief needs to “demonstrate strength and commitment to our allies” amid global conflicts, pointing specifically to “a war in the Ukraine [and] a terrible situation in the Middle East.”
When asked if he would divert his endorsement to Trump, the Republican frontrunner, should he face off with Joe Biden on the ballot, Griffin said: “I would probably be where the prior group said 70% of Americans don’t want the matchup. I’m in the 70%.”
Griffin said he refused to be “uninvolved” in politics, and went on to praise Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick, a former Bridgewater Associates chief executive, but refused to divulge whether he’d vote for Trump or Biden.
Representatives for Griffin at Citadel declined to comment.
Last week, Trump declared on Truth Social that anyone who contributed to Haley would be “permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” referring to Haley — his former ambassador to the United Nations — as “Birdbrain.”
Griffin, who founded Citadel — recently ranked the world’s top-performing hedge fund with more than $62 billion assets under management — initially said he would be “on the sidelines” of the 2024 election cycle in a snub to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who backed out of the race earlier this month.
Trump, 77, has ramped up his attacks on Haley, 52, recently, apparently aggravated that she refused to drop out after his double-digit victory in last week’s New Hampshire primary.
In a bid to press its advantage, the Trump campaign has touted endorsements from more than 150 current and former South Carolina officials — including the state’s governor and both Republican senators.
Haley’s camp has notoriously drawn cash from big-wig billionaires, including $250,000 from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and $4 million from Charles Koch.
And on Tuesday in New York City, deep-pocketed business titans including Leonard Stern, Cliff Asness, Stanley Druckenmiller, Ken Langone and Henry Kravis co-hosted an event for Haley.
Haley claims her super PAC raised around $50 million in the second half of 2023, surpassing Trump’s large haul, though the funds have done little to move the needle with GOP voters.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
