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Billionaire investor Ken Griffin has accused members of the Trump administration of enriching their families, drawing a rare rebuke from a prominent Wall Street figure and big Republican donor.
“This administration has certainly made missteps in choosing decisions or courses that have been very, very enriching for the families of people involved in the administration,” Griffin, the founder of hedge fund Citadel, said Tuesday at a conference hosted by The Wall Street Journal in West Palm Beach, Florida. He added, “This raises the question: Is the public interest being served?”
He said the administration’s financial benefits to family members troubled him, adding: “The one thing you want to believe is that people who serve the public interest have the public interest at the heart of everything they do.”
In response to Griffin’s comments, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: “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 reached multiple all-time highs, real wages have increased, and inflation has declined since President Trump took office is proof that this administration is working for every American.”
Griffin has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump before, but he has rarely commented in the sensitive area of ​​how the president and people associated with him have benefited financially from their proximity to the White House.
Trump and his family members have benefited since assuming the presidency last year. An FT investigation in October found that the president’s fast-growing cryptocurrency empire raked in more than $1 billion in pre-tax profits over the past year, partly due to a digital currency boom driven by the White House’s own crypto-friendly policies.
Companies backed by Trump’s sons have been awarded contracts with government agencies and have benefited from the administration’s policies on cryptocurrencies and prediction markets. The families of other administration members, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Ambassador Steve Witkoff, have also benefited.
Representatives for the Trump Organization and World Liberty Financial did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Cantor Fitzgerald declined to comment.
According to OpenSecrets, Griffin donated millions of dollars to Republican political groups during the recent presidential election, but did not support Trump. He has also emerged as one of the administration’s most vocal critics of Wall Street.
He has focused his criticism mainly on policy issues. Shortly after the election in 2024, Griffin warned that the president’s plan to increase tariffs would put the US “on a slippery slope toward crony capitalism.”
Griffin indicated that he had considered running for office, and stated that “in the future of my life I would like to be involved in public service”. He gave no indication of when that would happen, saying he loved his job and his coworkers.
Corporate executives in the US have been afraid to speak out against the administration since Trump returned to the Oval Office last year. Many corporate leaders have tried to curry favor with the White House by donating to his inauguration fund in the lead-up to his return to office and have generally remained silent even when they oppose his policies.
However, Griffin was not universally critical of the administration. He argued that the President’s selection of Kevin Wersh to lead the Federal Reserve shows that the central bank will be able to maintain its independence, which he said was in doubt until recently.
Griffin said the dynamic has raised concerns that America will enter a perpetual cycle of corporate leaders who will need to promote whoever is in power rather than trusting the success of their businesses.
“Most CEOs don’t want to involve themselves in the business of having to resort to one administration after another in some sense to be successful in running their business.”
