Wall Street CEOs flock to White House dinner with Trump – Financial Times

Donald Trump has summoned some of Wall Street’s biggest names including JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon and billionaire Bill Ackman to a White House dinner as the administration faces pressure over US economic performance.

BlackRock chief Larry Fink, Morgan Stanley’s Ted Pick, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and KKR co-founder Henry Kravis were among more than a dozen finance executives who attended the dinner on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Citadel founder Ken Griffin also attended the dinner, according to his spokesperson Zia Ahmed. Griffin, as well as hedge fund manager and Trump donor John Paulson, appeared in the Oval Office later on Wednesday evening when Trump signed a new funding package to reopen the government.

The dinner came two months after Trump held a similar gathering of leaders at US tech companies including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Apple’s Tim Cook focused on artificial intelligence investments in the country.

The administration has been under pressure over its management of the economy, particularly around the cost of living, which emerged as a central issue in state and local elections last week.

Trump on Wednesday faced renewed scrutiny over his relationship with the late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, after Democrats in Congress released emails in which Epstein said the president “spent hours at my house” with a woman later identified as a victim of sex trafficking.

The White House said “selectively leaked emails . . . create[d] a fake narrative”.

Wall Street has had a tumultuous relationship with the Trump administration since his election victory in November. Executives expected he would adopt a more pro-business stance on competition and regulatory issues. Even some Democrats on Wall Street privately expressed frustration that Joe Biden’s administration was too closed off from the business world. 

But this initial burst of optimism faded in the early months of Trump’s second term following cost-cutting announcements by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and the president’s “liberation day” tariffs, which spooked financial markets.

Trump’s attacks on Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell also raised doubts on Wall Street about his commitment to central bank independence.

These worries have since eased, while large US banks have been cheered by supportive comments from Trump-appointed regulators about less onerous rulemaking for the industry. The share prices of JPMorgan, Goldman and Morgan Stanley hit fresh record highs on Wednesday. 

Citigroup chief executive Jane Fraser declined an invitation to the dinner due to a scheduling conflict with a long-planned trip to Asia, said a person familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street boss has previously met the president to discuss plans to privatise mortgage groups Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Citi’s wealth unit had also sought to get more business from the Trump family and some of their allies in recent months, said two people familiar with the matter.

Bank of America chief Brian Moynihan, who has also met with Trump to discuss Fannie and Freddie’s IPO, was not invited to the dinner, according to a person familiar with the decision. Moynihan was among the Wall Street leaders who attracted Trump’s ire earlier this year over claims that they had unfairly refused to offer banking services to the president in the past.

Executives have been nervous of public criticism of Trump after the White House went after groups such as law firm Paul Weiss and elite universities, as well as threatening tariffs against some Big Tech groups.

The companies and the White House declined to comment.

Additional reporting by James Fontanella-Khan and Brooke Masters