Carl Icahn, the billionaire activist investor who endorsed Donald Trump early in his successful quest for the White House, ruled out the possibility of serving in Trump’s Treasury Department Wednesday.
“There’s no way I would do that,” Icahn said in an interview on CNBC the afternoon after Trump’s victory, explaining that he has a business to run.
Trump has specifically mentioned Icahn as a potential Treasury secretary in his administration.
More recently, however, reports have indicated that Trump is considering his campaign finance chairman, former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin, for the post.
Icahn did say, however, that he was open to advising Trump in encouraging business investment.
Easing regulations, he said in Wednesday’s interview, would be key to business growth. Government must let businesses know that it is “not at war with them,” he said.
Icahn has prioritized revamping the corporate tax regime to decrease the incentives for businesses to move their headquarters out of the country and has created a political group to back candidates pledging to address the problem.
