Top CEOs talked about opposing Trump’s denial
Leaders questioned what to do if president will not leave
WASHINGTON — Only a few of America’s CEOs have made public statements about President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept his election loss, but in private, many are alarmed and talking about what collective action would be necessary if they see an imminent threat to democracy.
OnNov. 6, more than two dozen CEOs of major U.S. corporations took part in a video conference to discuss what to do ifTrumprefuses to leave office or takes other steps to stay in power beyond the scheduled Jan. 20 inauguration of formerVice President Joe Biden. On Nov. 7, Biden was declared the election winner by The Associated Press and other news organizations.
During the conference, which lasted more than an hour, the CEOs agreed that Trump had the right to pursue legal challenges alleging voter fraud.
But if Trump tries to undo the legal process or disrupts a peaceful transition to Biden, the CEOs discussed making public statements and pressuring GOP legislators in their states who may try to redirect Electoral College votes from Biden to Trump, said Yalemanagementprofessor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who convened the meeting.
“They’re all fine with him taking an appeal to the court, to a judicial process. They didn’t want to deny him that. But that doesn’t stop the transition,” said Sonnenfeld.
On the day after the video meeting, theBusiness Roundtable, a group that represents the most powerful companies in America, including Walmart, Apple, Starbucks and General Electric, put out a statement congratulating Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris. It largely reflected the conversation from Friday’s video meeting, saying the group respectsTrump’s right to seek recounts and call for investigations where evidence exists.
“There is no indication that any of these would change the outcome,” the group’s statement said.
The executives who participated in the video conference are from Fortune 500 finance, retail, media and manufacturing companies, Sonnenfeld said. But he wouldn’t identify them because they attended the meeting with the condition that their names be kept confidential.
Richard Pildes, a constitutional law professor at New York University who spoke at the video meeting, confirmed Sonnenfeld’s account, as did an executive who attended but didn’t want to be identified because he didn’t want to violate the meeting’s ground rules.
The CEOs agreed that they had seen no evidence of widespread election fraud as Trump has contended. Sonnenfeld invited Yale University historian Timothy Snyder, author of “On Tyranny,” to address the group. After hearing Snyder discuss the history of democracies dying after elections and the possibility ofGOPlegislators changing the Electoral College outcome, many expressed alarm about the president’s conduct, Sonnenfeld said.
There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.