Billionaire Republican donor Harold Hamm told Donald Trump to drop his bid for the White House and has said the party needs a candidate free of the “chaos” dogging the former president, who faces several criminal investigations.
The Oklahoma oil tycoon, whom Trump considered making energy secretary in 2016, spoke to the former president by phone in May and urged him to act as the party’s “kingmaker, a role for him to be very influential”, and back another candidate instead of seeking a return to office.
“I know he wasn’t happy,” Hamm said in an interview with the Financial Times last week, referring to his phone conversation with Trump. “That’s all I can do. How seriously he takes that recommendation, I don’t know.”