This report was written by David Sirota, Andrew Perez and Julia Rock.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman on Thursday said<\/a> the insurrection and coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol this week was \u201cappalling and an affront to the democratic values we hold dear as Americans\u201d \u2014 but Schwarzman is one of a number of GOP benefactors suddenly pretending to be shocked and outraged at the mayhem fomented by the politicians they bankroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the last 24 hours, groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Koch Network\u2019s Americans for Prosperity and companies like Chevron have issued similar statements, without acknowledging the role they\u2019ve played in helping elect the politicians who egged on and fueled the attempt to overturn the election and pull off a coup. None of them have pledged to stop funding the Republicans politicians who egged on the insurrection and tried to overturn the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question now is whether these sponsors will face any consequences for their decisions to sponsor a political movement that tried to effectively end American democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schwarzman\u2019s case is the most pronounced: The billionaire was one of Wall Street\u2019s leading donors to Trump and the Republican machine, ultimately getting himself appointed to a White House business council<\/a> that shaped federal policies affecting<\/a> his private equity firm. As Trump\u2019s lawlessness and attacks on democratic institutions intensified, Schwarzman became the leading finance industry cheerleader<\/a> for Trump\u2019s reelection, pumping more than $40 million into Republican Party groups and a Trump super PAC during the 2020 election cycle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bloomberg<\/a> reported that Schwarzman \u201csingle-handedly accounts for the vast bulk of the reported contributions toward Trump\u2019s re-election effort over the past 18 months from people associated with the 31 banks and investment firms that dominate the U.S. financial industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even after the election as Republicans began manufacturing propaganda to pretend the election was marred by fraud, Schwarzman \u201cdefended Donald Trump\u2019s response to this year\u2019s US poll results during an emergency meeting of senior business leaders alarmed by the president\u2019s claims that the election is being stolen,\u201d according to a Financial Times report<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The newspaper additionally reported that Schwarzman \u201ctook issue with suggestions made during the meeting that the U.S. could be on the verge of a coup,\u201d and argued that Trump \u201cwas within his rights to challenge election results.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One attendee<\/a> later insisted that \u201cSchwarzman never defended President Trump\u2019s assertion that this was an unfair election or a stolen election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the Georgia runoff races, Schwarzman pumped $15 million into a super PAC boosting the Republican incumbents, Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who both<\/a> said they would support challenging the certification of the electoral college during their campaigns. (Loeffler changed course Wednesday evening, while Perdue\u2019s term officially expired before certification took place.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKnowing the president\u2019s proclivity to lie and incite his followers, Mr. Schwarzman still supported his election campaigns,\u201d New York Times business columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote<\/a> after Wednesday\u2019s events. \u201cShould that matter to pension funds and other investors doing business with Blackstone and its companies?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a big question, considering Blackstone relies on billions of dollars of investments<\/a> from state and local pension funds that manage the retirement savings of teachers, firefighters and other public workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pennsylvania\u2019s state pension fund, for instance, has paid more than $300 million<\/a> of investment fees to Schwarzman\u2019s firm. He has returned the favor by bankrolling the campaigns of the Republican politicians who have been trying to invalidate Pennsylvania\u2019s election and potentially throw out the votes of the same workers whose savings have enriched Blackstone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the last few weeks, Trump officials have tried to pass last-minute rules<\/a> making it more difficult for private pension funds to pull workers\u2019 money out of investment firms based on concerns about the companies\u2019 respect for human rights. Public pension funds, however, are not subject to those rules \u2014 which means Pennsylvania officials could try to divest from Schwarzman\u2019s firm to make sure workers\u2019 retirement money does not end up financing a political movement trying to overturn election results and undermine democratic institutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pension funds in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington state and other Democratic locales that invest in Blackstone could do the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy would public employee pension plans continue to invest in (a) private equity corp like Steve Schwarzman\u2019s Blackstone who financed, benefited from & supported Trump & coup plotters?\u201d tweeted<\/a> Stephen Lerner, a former top labor union official who is now a fellow at Georgetown University\u2019s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to Schwarzman, some of the nation\u2019s largest and best-known corporations have also bankrolled the politicians who mounted Wednesday\u2019s attempt to overturn the election. Popular Information reported<\/a> that just 20 corporations have spent over $16 million over the past six years backing the 138 Republican lawmakers publicly committed to rejecting certified electoral college votes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And corporate titans have routinely funded efforts at the state level to thwart democracy through partisan gerrymandering campaigns and voter suppression laws, The New Republic reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corporations also bankrolled a group that helped organize the protest that precipitated Wednesday\u2019s insurrection. Documented reported<\/a> Wednesday that the Rule of Law Defense Fund, an arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), was listed as one of the organizers of Wednesday\u2019s protest. RAGA received hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions<\/a> last year from Koch Industries, Comcast Corporation, Walmart, Home Depot, Amazon, Google and other corporate donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the companies and organizations that have spent big to elect insurrectionist Republican lawmakers in Washington are speaking out against the coup effort now as if they have been passive bystanders all along. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Billionaire Charles Koch and his conservative dark money network have done more than nearly anyone to paint Congress deep red, his network\u2019s political arm, Americans for Prosperity, issued a statement<\/a> on Tuesday calling on Congress to certify the election. On Wednesday, the group said: \u201cWe join fellow Americans who are watching the violence at the U.S. Capitol with grave concern.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Americans for Prosperity spent $4.6 million<\/a> to help Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley defeat Claire McCaskill in 2018. Hawley led the effort among Senate Republicans to challenge certification of the election, and he was photographed<\/a> raising a fist in support of the insurrectionists outside the Capitol on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas Donohue, who leads the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said<\/a> on Wednesday that the \u201cattacks against our nation\u2019s Capitol Building and our democracy must end now,\u201d and he called upon Congress to \u201cgather again this evening to conclude their constitutional responsibility to accept the report of the Electoral College.\u201d Earlier in the week, Donohue had condemned<\/a> \u201cefforts by some members of Congress to disregard certified election results.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chamber, the nation\u2019s top business lobby, spent nearly<\/a>$5 million<\/a> backing Senate Republicans this election cycle, according to data from OpenSecrets. That included a $400,000 ad campaign<\/a> to elect Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, one of eight senators who voted<\/a> on Wednesday to overturn the results of the electoral college. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chamber spent a combined $1.4 million<\/a> in support of Loeffler and Perdue\u2019s campaigns in Georgia, and also dropped $2 million<\/a> in December on a holiday commercial telling people to thank the two senators for fighting for pandemic relief, which they didn\u2019t really do<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chevron, which donated<\/a> $5.4 million this year to party-aligned super PACs working to elect Republican lawmakers, offered up a statement<\/a> on Wednesday calling for \u201cthe peaceful transition of the U.S. government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrew Liveris, the former CEO of Dow Chemical, called<\/a> the scenes at the Capitol on Wednesday \u201ctragic,\u201d saying they brought back \u201cmemories of my lived experiences in emerging economies with coups, brawls in parliament and street violence.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2017, before Liveris retired, donated<\/a> $100,000 to the dark money group created by Trump allies to promote his agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla \/ Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This newsletter relies on readers pitching in to support it. If you like what you just read and want to help expand this kind of journalism, consider becoming a paid subscriber by clicking this link<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Wall Street billionaire, lobby groups and brand-name corporations want you to forget that they bankrolled the GOP politicians who egged on a violent insurrection and tried to overturn the election. David Sirota Jan 8, 2021 (The Daily Poster) This report was written by David Sirota, Andrew Perez and Julia… Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Poster.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBillionaire Kept Boosting Trump, Even As He Attacked Democracy<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Corporate PAC Money Flowed To GOP Lawmakers Trying To Overturn The Election<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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