President Donald Trump has disbanded his Manufacturing Council and Strategy and Policy Forum as major business leaders continue to cut ties with the president over his failure to unequivocally condemn white nationalists who turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday.
Several members of the Strategy and Policy Forum held a conference call Wednesday morning, organized by Blackstone Group CEO and Trump confidant Stephen A. Schwarzman. About a dozen prominent CEOs agreed to abandon the group, people with knowledge of the discussion told the New York Times.
Meanwhile, two more CEOs — Denise Morrison of Campbell Soup and Inge Thulin of 3M — announced they would leave the Manufacturing Council, joining CEOs of Merck, Intel and Under Armour.
Facing the mass defections, Trump announced on Twitter that he would end both groups.
Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2017
