SAN FRANCISCO – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump mentioned investor Carl Icahn as a potential Treasury Secretary, should he win. Now, Icahn is endorsing his fellow billionaire as the only campaigner speaking out on crucial business and economic concerns.
In a video posted on his new website Tuesday, Icahn criticized “the dysfunction that is going on both in Washington and the boardrooms of corporate America” and lambasted the U.S. Congress for failing to reform taxes or immigration. He backed Trump’s calls to strike tax deals to encourage corporations to bring back overseas profits and stay based in the U.S.; to end the carried interest tax discount for hedge fund and private-equity managers; and said the Federal Reserve is overdue in beginning to raise interest rates.
“You have this movement toward a guy like Donald Trump, because you want someone that’s not beholden to an establishment,” Icahn said in the video. “So we need a president that can move Congress and I think Donald Trump could do it. I disagree with him on certain issues, and certainly would talk to him more, but this is what this country needs – somebody to wake it up.”
When asked in a follow-up interview if this meant he endorses Trump, Icahn said yes: “I would say it’s an endorsement. I think at this moment in time, he’s the only candidate that speaks out about the country’s problems,” Icahn said by phone. “I’m behind Trump. I disagree on certain points I don’t want to get into, I’m sure those can be worked out, but the basic thing is, you need somebody that can get things going in Congress, and I think he can do it. You need somebody that understands business, and I think he understands it.”
That raises the candidacy of Carly Fiorina, the Republican hopeful whose experience includes six years as chief executive officer at Hewlett-Packard Co., and whose face Trump has disparaged. Fiorina was fired from Hewlett-Packard in 2005 after disappointing results and the disastrous acquisition of Compaq.
“I really don’t think there’s anybody else there that does” understand business, Icahn said. “You might argue Carly Fiorina, but I don’t think Carly Fiorina is going to withstand the scrutiny of what happened at Hewlett-Packard.”
Icahn also dismissed speculation that Trump is running for publicity rather than as a serious candidate, saying the money and time Trump is spending shows he’ll run for president should he win the Republican nomination.
“Trump says he’s very serious and I believe him,” Icahn said in the interview. He dismissed the other contenders as unlikely to bring needed change to Washington. “I can’t think of any other candidate that’s going to be much different than what you have today.”
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