Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Billionaire hedge fund chief Bill Ackman donated $3,300 within the second quarter to Democrat and anti-vaccine presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign throughout the second quarter, in response to a Federal Election Commission filing.
Ackman’s donation got here just days after he sided, in a tweet, with Kennedy’s broadly debunked skepticism about vaccines.
Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital, explained to CNBC days later: “I listened to RFK on several podcasts and a town hall and thought he raised essential issues about vaccines and other issues that were price learning more about.” When asked on the time, he didn’t say whether he had donated to Kennedy’s campaign.
Ackman is considered one of several outstanding business leaders who donated to Kennedy’s campaign within the second quarter. The Purple Good Government PAC, a committee that is been largely funded by investor and Elon Musk ally David Sacks, donated $6,600 to the campaign.
Ken Fisher, the founder and executive chairman of Fisher Investments, donated $6,600 to the campaign, in response to the filing.
Veteran Wall Street executive Omeed Malik also donated $6,600 to the Kennedy campaign, the filing says. Malik is hosting a fundraiser for Kennedy within the Hamptons this month. Brett Messing, a partner at Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital, also donated the campaign, in response to the filing.
A donor named Eric Clapton, identified as a musician with an address in England, donated $5,000 to Kennedy’s campaign.
It wasn’t immediately clear if that donor was the identical person because the legendary English guitarist Eric Clapton, who has an extended history of airing controversial views and released an anti-vaccine and Covid lockdown protest song throughout the Covid pandemic. The filing notes next to the donation: “refund in subsequent period.” Federal law prohibits donations to U.S. campaigns from foreign nationals.
Probably the most a person may give toward helping a candidate in either a primary or general election season inside an election cycle is $3,300. A $6,600 donation may be split between the first and general election accounts.
The second quarter spans from April 1 until June 30.
Ackman’s spokesman declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Sacks didn’t return a request for comment. Fisher didn’t return a request for comment. A spokeswoman for Clapton didn’t return a request for comment.
Sacks co-hosted an event in June with fellow tech leader Chamath Palihapitiya that raised roughly $500,000. The Kennedy campaign finished raising over $6 million, with over $4 million available. Neither Sacks nor Palihapitiya are listed on the campaign fundraising filing as having contributed toward Kennedy’s run.
President Joe Biden, Kennedy’s rival, raised over $72 million within the second quarter.
A June Quinnipiac poll shows Biden with 70 % support amongst Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, while Kennedy has 17% amongst those self same groups.
CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this text.
