Blind loyalty to Trump helped Stephen A. Schwarzman, the chief executive of the private equity giant Blackstone, nail down one of the biggest deals on Wall Street this year — its selection by Saudi Arabia to manage a new $20 billion fund, the largest in the world to invest in infrastructure projects.
The Saudi’s decided on Schwarzman because he's a close adviser of Trump. The announcement of the deal was even made at the royal palace in Riyadh as Trump and Jared Kushner looked on.
Nothing illegal occurred, as far as we know. But the deal makes clear how much corporate leaders stand to gain by sticking by Trump, and how much they risk by standing up to him -- as several did this past week. Even more kudos to them.
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Ben Protess, Michael Corkery
