Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase [1] said that he could defeat President Trump in a head-to-head election, during an event at the bank's headquarters, on Wednesday. However, he backtracked shortly after making these comments.
According to a CNBC [2] transcript [3] of the event, Dimon said that he could beat President Trump, "Because I'm as tough as he is, I'm smarter than he is. I would be fine. He could punch me all he wants, it wouldn't work with me. I'd fight right back."
The 62-year-old CEO of JPMorgan backtracked after an hour saying, "I should not have said it. I'm not running for president." He added that the remarks proved he wouldn't make a good politician adding that he got frustrated because he wanted all sides to come together to solve big problems.
The CNBC transcript shows that during his original comments at the event, Dimon went on to point out that it was unlikely that a rich banker could defeat a liberal candidate.
Dimon was speaking at an event to announce a new $500 million, five-year initiative to drive inclusive growth and create greater economic opportunity in cities across the world. According to a statement released by the bank, the initiative called Advancing Cities applies insights from JPMorgan Chase's models for impact in Detroit, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., to combine the firm's lending capital and philanthropic capital and expertise to make investments in these cities.
The capital from this investment will be used fund sustainable projects in underserved neighborhoods that frequently lack access to traditional financing, such as affordable housing, commercial real estate and small businesses, the bank said.
Additionally, this investment would continue to focus on four strategic drivers of inclusive growth around which it has developed its other global initiatives over the past five years. These include equipping workers with 21st-century job skills, providing the capital and expertise that women and minority entrepreneurs need to grow their businesses, investing in locally-driven solutions to revitalize distressed neighborhoods and helping families build strong financial futures.