Seth Klarman Image by The Israel Project

By Josh Nathan-Kazis October 30, 2017

Seth Klarman Image by Getty Images

Jewish billionaire hedge fund magnate Seth Klarman compared President Donald Trump to Hitler at a private philanthropy conference this month, according to audio obtained by New York Magazine.

“The president is a threat to democracy,” said Klarman. “People don’t focus on this but Nazi Germany had a constitution before Hitler came to power and at the end of the war they had the exact same constitution. It lasted all the way through, but democracy didn’t.”

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Klarman, a major funder of groups like The Israel Project and The Times of Israel, is among the largest donors in the country to Republican politicians, but has been a longtime critic of Trump, and recently gave $30,000 to help Democrats retake the House of Representatives.

Klarman also hold nearly $1 billion in Puerto Rican debt through his fund the Baupost Group, a fact he had sought to mask.

Barry Sternlicht, a Trump friend, also criticized the president at the private meeting, according to New York. “He’s amusing as my friend, but he’s not very amusing as president of the United States,” Sternlicht said.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

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