Donald Trump’s conviction for falsifying corporate records prompted an immediate response from his stable of billionaire friends.
In the hours after the verdict, figures like Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, investor David Sacks and Pershing Square Capital CEO Bill Ackman all offered their support online.
It’s just the latest example of billionaire supporters flocking to Donald Trump. They have already helped reshape the 2024 race in recent months, with Trump sucking up tycoon money to narrow his fundraising gap with Joe Biden.
One show of support came from David Sacks, a billionaire tech investor who reportedly will host a Silicon Valley fundraiser for Trump in the coming weeks.
He immediately responded to the verdict by posting that “there is now only one issue in this election: whether the American people will support the US becoming a banana republic.”
Trump and his supporters have long dismissed the trial as politically motivated.
The former president was convicted Thursday on 34 counts related to falsifying corporate records surrounding a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The prosecution successfully convinced the jury that Daniels was paid to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
There is little expectation that Trump’s multiple convictions will lose him support in donor countries.
In a Yahoo Finance Live appearance after the verdict, Henrietta Treyz, director of economic policy at Veda Partners, pointed out that many donors have been giving in recent months as they looked forward to this verdict.
“I don’t think he’s going to lose any support from the big-dollar donors,” she said.
Increasing billionaire involvement
Another quick responder was Musk, who was quick to voice his opinion with a series of posts about the “disturbing” judgment.
“Great damage has been done today to public confidence in the American justice system,” he said in one of his statements.
The reports came after a new Wall Street Journal report earlier this week revealed Musk’s close involvement and access to Trump, with the two men holding phone conversations several times a month.
Musk has said he has no plans to give Trump any money, but has withheld his support as other billionaires open their wallets.
Figures from Blackstone (BX) CEO Steve Schwarzman and hotel magnate Robert Bigelow to Continental Resources founder and chairman Harold Hamm have all been prominent Trump givers in recent months.
The influx helped Trump raise about $76 million in April, bringing Biden’s total that month to $51 million. Trump raised more than $50 million at one event with billionaires in early April.
But Biden still leads the way when it comes to cash in the bank, saving $192 million in early May during his operation.
Biden’s campaign has criticized Trump’s coziness with these elites, but has nevertheless raised some money from the business leaders themselves.
During a fundraising trip from Biden on the West Coast in early May, the president stopped by an event co-hosted by Marissa Mayer, the former CEO of Yahoo. Another stop was at the home of Jon Shirley, the former president of Microsoft (MSFT), according to pool reports.
But at least this week, much of the loudest commentary from business leaders has come from Trump’s side.
Take Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital. The Financial Times reported this week about his preferences for Trump, and the billionaire himself made it more official after Thursday’s verdict.
He posted (and seconded) a message from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stating that the verdict was the result of “some kangaroo court’s political agenda.”
How this high-dollar support translates into votes remains to be seen.
Treyz pointed to DeSantis (whom Ackman had previously endorsed) as an example of a candidate who was able to attract high-dollar donors — but less adept at translating that into votes.
“Everyone gets one vote, no matter how much money you give,” she noted.
Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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