Harris’ Wall Street allies strategize on private call, Rubin, Lasry, Wolf among them

Vice
President

Kamala
Harris‘
allies
on

Wall
Street
huddled
on
a
private
Zoom
call
Wednesday
to
strategize
how
to
defeat
former
President

Donald
Trump,
according
to
people
familiar
with
the
matter.

The
call
featured
dozens
of
major

financiers
backing
Harris,
and
lasted
over
an
hour.
They
include
Avenue
Capital
CEO
Marc
Lasry,
Centerview
Partners
co-founder
Blair
Effron,
Lazard
President
Ray
McGuire,
former
Treasury
Secretary
and
veteran
banking
executive
Robert
Rubin,
businessman
Tony
Coles,
Paul,
Weiss
chairman
Brad
Karp,
founder
of
32
Advisors
Robert
Wolf,
longtime
asset
manager
Brian
Mathis
and
Jon
Henes,
the
CEO
of
C
Street
Advisory
Group,
according
to
these
people.

Those
who
spoke
to
CNBC
did
so
anonymously
in
order
to
speak
freely
about
private
matters.

CNBC
was
first
to
report
on
the
scheduled
call
Tuesday
morning.

People
on
the
call
said
it
was
the
first
gathering
that
had
brought
all
of
these
major
players
together
in
finance
and
business
since
President
Joe
Biden
dropped
out
the
race.
The
goal
was
to
start
organizing
a
large
scale
fundraising
effort
in
support
of
Harris’
campaign.

“We
need
to
raise
a
ton
of
money,”
said
someone
on
the
call,
describing
the
first
portion
of
the
conversation.

Rufus
Gifford,
the
finance
chair
for
the
Harris
campaign,
fielded
questions
and
comments
on
the
call,
while
encouraging
people
to
give
and
help
raise
money
for
the
campaign,
according
to
people
familiar
with
the
event.

The
campaign
said
it
has
already
raised
over
$100
million
since
Biden
endorsed
Harris
on
Sunday.
But
this
call
and
others
like
it
are
clearly
meant
to
keep
the
vice
president’s
fundraising
momentum
going
in
the
weeks
and
months
ahead.

Some
on
the
call
also
encouraged
the
campaign
to
step
up
its
efforts
to
connect
with
Black
voters,
according
to
some
on
the
call.
Others
wanted
to
hear
more
from
the
Harris
campaign,
including
a
full
agenda
for
the
Democratic
National
Convention,
another
person
on
the
call
said.

There
were
also
key
conversations
about
where
Harris
stands
on
the
war
between
Israel
and
Hamas,
and
her
policy
stances
on
economics
and
tech,
according
to
people
on
the
call.

Harris
is
expected
to
head
into
the
convention
in
Chicago
in
August
having
already
secured
the
roll
call
votes
to
win
the
Democratic
nomination.