REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said he is not part of a secret group attacking America as Donald Trump claimed.
He was asked by CNBC's David Faber on Wednesday what he thought of the Republican presidential candidates comments during a rally last week that "Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of US sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors."
Trump referenced leaked emails from the Clinton campaign which included excerpts of Q&A sessions between Clinton and Blankfein at the bank.
"Well, you know, we're in the political season and people say things that — you know, to go out and argue in a rational way some of the things that are being said is a waste of time," Blankfein told CNBC.
"If there's some secret international cabal, I've been left out of the party again," he added.
The conversation continued:
"Faber: So am I to take it that you weren't meeting in secret with international banks and Hillary Clinton to plot the destruction of US sovereignty?
"Blankfein: I would say if we could parse that clause by clause, but to every clause the answer is no, we weren't doing it. We weren't meeting in secret and we certainly weren't plotting the destruction."
Blankfein also lamented the current state of global politics as being an extreme expression of populist, angry sentiment that has shown up in the US election and elsewhere in the world, such as the UK's Brexit vote.
"It's a very extreme moment," said Blankfein. "If you want to be successful right now you don't do it by leading people to sensible solutions."
When asked if people that work on Wall Street will eventually get back into political positions, such as former Goldman CEO Henry Paulson who was Treasury Secretary from 2006 to 2009, Blankfein said that sentiment towards Wall Street runs in "cycles" and eventually the "pendulum would swing the other way."
"I wouldn't profile people and say they shouldn't have a job [in the government] because they're from Wall Street," said Blankfein.
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