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Billionaire businessman Bill Ackman believes President Biden should drop out of the race due to his old age.
Ackman made the remarks during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawkbox” about his recent political activity in the wake of Harvard University’s antisemitism scandal. When asked about his political views heading into the 2024 presidential election, Ackman said Biden was not fit to serve.
“So one, I’ve always been a centrist, always believed in supporting whoever is best for the country — Republican, independent, Democrat,” Ackman said. “I think it’s really important that Biden steps aside.”
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William “Bill” Ackman, founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management LP, speaks during a presentation in New York. (Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
He continued, “Just on the age, past his prime issue, I think a good part of the reason why we have what’s going on in the world geopolitically is he’s perceived as a weak president. And he will be even weaker.”
When asked if he would support former President Trump over Biden in the 2024 election, Ackman said, “I’ll make that decision when I have the choice.”
Ackman thrust himself into the wider political discourse after Harvard came under scrutiny regarding the congressional testimony of its president, Claudine Gay — in which Gay hesitated to say calls for genocide against Jewish people would be against the rules of the university.
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President Biden speaks at a groundbreaking for an Arcosa Wind Towers Inc. manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Ramsay de Give/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Gay later resigned from her position after examples of plagiarism in her scholarship came to light.
Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, received both his bachelor’s degree and MBA from Harvard and has been a major donor to the institution.
In a lengthy social media post, Ackman said he “first became concerned” about Harvard after 34 student organizations signed a statement issued by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups that began by blaming the “Israeli regime” for “all the unfolding violence” in the hours after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
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Harvard banners hang outside Memorial Church on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Getty Images)
He said that after conducting his own research into what was happening at Harvard, he “ultimately concluded that antisemitism was not the core of the problem, it was simply a troubling warning sign – it was the ‘canary in the coal mine.'”
Ackman argued Harvard’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies are at the root of the school’s problems.
Fox Business’s Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
