He heaped praise on Jared Kushner at a private gathering of bankers and corporate executives in December, congratulating President Trump’s son-in-law on the surprise election triumph.
He stood up again in May before a group of corporate leaders on the 39th floor of Citigroup’s offices to remind them of all the good the Trump administration could do for the economy and the country.
And at a meeting on Monday with his employees, as Mr. Trump’s support in corporate America began to crumble over remarks about white nationalists, he condemned the violence in Charlottesville, Va., but not the president’s response to it. By week’s end, a rebellion among corporate leaders led to the disbanding of business advisory councils to the president.
Stephen A. Schwarzman, the chief executive of the private equity giant Blackstone and the leader of one of the councils, has not been alone on Wall Street in his embrace of the Trump presidency, particularly after the corporate world endured eight years of Obama-era regulation. But in each of these private meetings, recounted by people who attended them, Mr. Schwarzman emerged as one of the president’s most respected and reliable allies in high finance.
People close to Mr. Schwarzman say he does not view himself as a member of the president’s inner circle, but rather as an independent businessman who gives the White House advice on trade and the economy.
