Trump would win the 2024 election if it were to be held now, GOP mega-donor Ken Griffin says

• Citadel CEO Ken Griffin says Donald Trump would win the 2024 election if it were to be held now.

• The GOP mega-donor previously criticized Trump's presidential ambitions and backed Nikki Haley.

• He now says a Trump term "is good for our capital markets."

Ken Griffin may have once criticized former President Donald Trump's bid for the White House, but the Citadel founder and CEO says he's confident Trump will beat President Joe Biden at the polls.

"Right here? Right now? The election is tomorrow? He wins it," Griffin said on Tuesday in an interview with CNBC's Sara Eisen.

"I think for investors, overall, a Trump administration is good for our capital markets," Griffin told Eisen, but he stopped short of endorsing Trump.

Griffin's remarks on Tuesday are surprising, considering his earlier criticism of Trump. In November 2022, the GOP mega-donor called Trump a "three-time loser" and said he hoped Republicans were "ready to move on" from him.

Griffin was referencing Trump's defeat in 2020, the GOP's loss of the two Georgia Senate seats in 2021, and the Republicans' lackluster performance in the 2022 midterm elections.

And in October, Griffin praised Trump's primary rival, Nikki Haley, calling the former UN Ambassador "a rockstar." In December and January, he also donated a total of $5 million to a super PAC backing Haley, the Associated Press reported.

But on Tuesday, Griffin appeared to have toned down his criticisms of Trump, saying he wanted to "see what his policy platform looks like." Griffin told Eisen he had a "fantastic working relationship" with Trump when he was in office.

"I'll give the president credit. He listened, he cared deeply about the American people, and he's very different in a small room with a small number of people," Griffin said.

"He's very different than the person he's often personified by in the media or in the press. It's actually quite touching, to be blunt," Griffin added.

Representatives for Trump didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

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