Donald Trump says he doesn’t know who came up with the idea that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon could be Treasury Secretary in his potential second administration.
Trump did. Just a few weeks ago.
The 78-year-old Republican nominee for the presidency, whose cognitive abilities have come under scrutiny as the oldest presidential candidate in a race without Joe Biden, is now denying that Dimon or BlackRock CEO Larry Fink have ever been “thought of” for his cabinet.
“I don’t know who said it, or where it came from, perhaps the Radical Left, but I never discussed, or thought of, Jamie Dimon or Larry Fink for Secretary of the Treasury,” he wrote on Truth Social.
But it was Trump himself who said he would consider Dimon for the role during a June 25 interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.
“We had a great meeting. Jamie Dimon was there. I have a lot of respect for Jamie Dimon,” he said of a meeting with CEOs hosted by the Business Roundtable in Washington.
Asked by Bloomberg if he would consider Dimon for Treasury Secretary in a Trump administration, he said: “He is somebody that I would consider, sure.”
Trump’s allies began floating Dimon’s name earlier this year following a major fundraiser hosted by billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson and co-chaired by investor Scott Bessen, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Dimon has yet to publicly comment on a potential role in the Trump administration.
Fink’s name popped up in a recent column in The New York Post claiming that Trump is “still seeking out Fink for insights into the economy” despite right-wing attacks aimed at “ESG” — or “environmental, social and governance” investing principles — that BlackRock has incorporated into its massive $10 trillion investment portfolio.
Trump had also previously called Dimon a “highly overrated globalist” after he voiced his support for Trump’s former primary rival Nikki Haley.
But both men appear to have some common ground with Trump’s newfound interest in the cryptocurrency industry, which Trump told Bloomberg has a “good foundation” in the US.
“If we don’t do it, China is going to pick it up and China’s going to have it — or somebody else, but most likely China,” Trump told the outlet last month. “Also, it’s not going away. It’s amazing. I’ve gotten to know a lot of people … I went to San Francisco, I met many people that — these are people that this is really becoming an industry [for].”
Trump famously jumped on the NFT craze with a series of Trump-themed so-called “trading cards” using the “non-fungible token” format that is traded using cryptocurrency.
“I did things like NFTs and, you know, stuff,” Trump told Bloomberg. “And I noticed that 80 percent of the money was paid in crypto. It was incredible. So, NFTs are, you know, I did the — very successful. … I would say almost all of it was paid in crypto, in this new currency. And it opened my eyes.”
The industry is “a baby” and “an infant right now,” “and you ask Jamie Dimon, Jamie Dimon was, you know, very negative and now all of a sudden he’s changed his tune a little bit,” Trump said.
The Independent has requested comment from representatives for Dimon and Fink.
