WASHINGTON (TIP): Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has quit US President Donald Trump‘s council of business leaders, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press.
Kalanick wrote to his employees that he’d spoken with Trump on Thursday to “let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that.”
His departure came on the eve of the first meeting of the group at the White House, planned for Friday.
Disney CEO Bob Iger won’t attend either; instead he will be at a company board meeting in California, according to a person close to Iger who requested anonymity to discuss the CEO’s schedule.
White House officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Led by Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and chief executive of the private equity group Blackstone, the council has about 15 members, including the leaders of Wal-Mart, Tesla, the Cleveland Clinic and Pepsi.
The council is ‘designed to provide direct input to the president from many of the best and brightest in the business world in a frank, non-bureaucratic, and non-partisan manner,’ according to a Blackstone press release in December announcing its formation.
Yet public outcry about Trump- specifically his executive order suspending the country’s refugee program and halting other aspects of immigration- has put some business leaders in an uncomfortable spot.