Charles Koch, the dominant player in his political partnership with brother David Koch, told attendees at a bi-annual donor retreat at a luxury resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado: “At this point, I can’t support either candidate” for the White House.
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Koch continued, “Since it appears that neither presidential candidate is likely to support us in these efforts, we’re focused on maximizing the number of principled leaders in the House and Senate who will”.
“I mean, that’s monstrous”, he said. “It’s a crisis today and it’s going to be a crisis in four years'”.
Trump, who Politico reported tried to mend bridges with the Koch brothers, said July was his best fund-raising month to date and claimed it was he who rebuffed the Koch brothers.
Billionaire industrialist and conservative benefactor Charles Koch’s expansive political network will not help Donald Trump win the presidency.
In public remarks, he told the group that politics is definitely part of their strategy to promote a free and open society.
“We’re focused on the Senate”, said Mark Holden, general counsel and senior vice-president of Koch Industries.
“The good news [is] we’ve built this network for just such a condition”, he added.
The Koch network, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into politics, planned on pouring a lot of money into the 2016 presidential race. “What are his options?”
“Whether it’s putting the special interests before taxpayers’ interest, or making tough times even harder with harmful tax-and-spend policies, it’s clear that Catherine Cortez Masto, Ted Strickland, and Katie McGinty would only continue the failed policies that rig the system for the well-off and well-connected”, said James Davis, spokesman for the group.
Koch, whose network spent $400 million on the 2012 election, has so far refused to spend money to support Trump. It will instead go to helping Republican Senate candidates in at least five states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Florida, Holden said, noting that the network has dedicated $42 million so far to television and digital advertising to benefit Republican Senate candidates.
The three-day Koch donors conference ends on Monday.
For some at the meeting, the debate is not just about publicly supporting Trump, but also about a willingness to donate to his campaign, and that’s where the divisions arise. “I don’t endorse everything about him”. “I’m probably not going to contribute”. John Cornyn, South Carolina Sen.
Hillary Clinton says controlling her emotions was her biggest concern walking on stage at the Democrat National Convention to become the first woman to lead a major party ticket.
A dozen elected officials attended to speak and to meet with donors.
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The Utah senator Mike Lee, like the Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin, and the Arizona governor, Doug Ducey, avoided discussion of the presidential election during panel discussions.
