Even though some CEOs went into a meeting with former President Trump this week ready to support him, he reportedly failed to impress “everyone in the room,” according to multiple attendees cited by CNBC.
“Meeting attendees and people who spoke with them were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the private event,” said the outlet.
It revealed that one CEO said: “Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Audacy reported this week that Trump and members of the Biden administration would present their campaign’s economic plans to different groups of business power players. Since President Joe Biden, 82, was in Ital for the G7 Summit, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients attended the Business Roundtable CEO meeting in Washington, D.C., that Trump also attended.
CNN said “roughly 100 corporate leaders, including JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon,” were at the meeting, citing an anonymous source familiar with the matter.
Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, was expected to sell a CEO-friendly plan to slash corporate taxes. Biden’s team was expected to pitch against tax cuts for the wealthy and against deregulation, less popular notions with the aforementioned audience. CNN confirmed that Trump did promise tax cuts during the meeting.
However, CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin reported Friday on “Squawk Box” that CEOs at the event said that Trump was “meandering” and “could not keep a straight thought.” The CEO quoted before said that Trump didn’t explain how he would accomplish any of his policy proposals.
“Among the topics on which Trump offered scant details were how he would reduce taxes and cut back on business regulations,” said two attendees who spoke to CNBC.
Sorkin said that the same CEOs who criticized Trump – now the presumptive GOP presidential candidate – had entered the meeting being “Trump supporter-ish,” according to Sorkin. They left the meeting feeling less supportive, he added.
On the other hand, Trump and his team offered a different perspective on the meeting.
“Had a great meeting with the Business Roundtable on Thursday - All CEOs at the top Companies in the Nation, and beyond,” said Trump in a Saturday Truth Social post. “I have already heard from so many how good the Meeting was - Larry Kudlow was the Moderator, and we covered a lot of territory. The problem with doing this Roundtable group, however, is that some of these ‘Leaders’ are Biden sympathizers, especially those on top - They love spreading false rumors and innuendo, and take what was a GREAT Meeting, actually an inspirational one, and doing everything possible to belittle and inflame.”
Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump presidential campaign, said that Trump was “warmly received” by everyone in the room. Per the CNBC report, Trump had a more subdued demeanor at the meeting than he did earlier that day when meeting with House Republicans.