Billionaire investor Carl Icahn declines to join Trump economic team

Billionaire Carl Icahn has turned down an invitation to join Donald Trump’s economic advisory team.

“Mr. Icahn declined the opportunity to join the Trump economic advisory council because at this time, we’re still considering whether to fund and manage our own super-PAC focused on regulatory reform,” Jesse Lynn, the billionaire investor’s general counsel, told Reuters on Friday.

{mosads}“[Federal Election Commission] rules would limit that activity if Mr. Icahn were to become directly involved in the campaign by joining the council.”

Trump unveiled a 13-person economic advisory team earlier Friday including several real estate investors and hedge fund managers.

“I am pleased that we have such a formidable group of experienced and talented individuals that will work with me to implement real solutions for the economic issues facing our country,” the GOP nominee’s campaign said in a statement.

Lynn on Friday did not provide details on what regulatory reforms Icahn’s new super-PAC might tackle.

Icahn launched his first super-PAC last year, pledging an initial $150 million toward the group.

Icahn vowed it would “hold Senators and Congressmen accountable for the current gridlock in Congress that prevents important legislation from being passed.”

“The first thing the PAC will do is focus on the pernicious effects that are occurring and will continue to occur as a result of Congress’s failure to immediately stop so many of our great companies from leaving our nation,” he said in a letter on Oct. 21, 2015. “This exodus has often been called ‘corporate tax inversions.’”

Trump has repeatedly floated Icahn as a potential Treasury secretary.

Icahn last year said, possibly tongue-in-cheek, that he would accept the offer.

Tags campaigns Donald Trump economy Republicans super-PACs

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