Palantir works for the government’s immigration enforcers and other federal agencies, but in 2015 its CEO said, “it would be hard to make up someone I find less appealing” than Donald Trump.

More so than perhaps any other Silicon Valley startup, Palantir Technologies is poised to play a central role in the Trump era.

Its data-mining technology has long been used by federal agencies, and its chairman, the billionaire Peter Thiel, emerged last year as Donald Trump’s most prominent supporter from the tech world. Alex Karp, the Palantir CEO, joined the chiefs of much larger tech companies in a meeting with Trump shortly after the election. Thiel was there, too, seated prominently at Trump’s left. But an internal Palantir video exclusively obtained by BuzzFeed News shows that Karp, the CEO, was full of withering criticism for Trump more than a year before the election. In a Palantir staff meeting in August 2015, the video shows, Karp derided Trump’s “fictitious wealth,” called him a bully, and condemned his campaign rhetoric on deporting immigrants. He also said he had given Trump a brush-off. “I’ve had the rare opportunity to meet Trump, which I turned down — I mean, this is off the record — but like, I don’t respect — like, I respect nothing about the dude,” Karp said in a roughly 45-minute-long “beer sync” talk that ranged widely, from company news to his own life philosophy. The meeting was filmed by Palantir. “Like, you could almost make up someone that I find — it would be hard to make up someone I find less appealing,” Karp said of Trump.

Palantir, a Silicon Valley data-mining firm with a $20 billion valuation, relies on federal contracts for a significant portion of its revenue. It works for the CIA, the FBI, the Marine Corps, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, deploying engineers to analyze and visualize the customers’ data. It’s currently trying to get a lucrative contract from the Army — an effort so important to Palantir that it took the Army to court, and won, after it wasn’t considered for the work. Karp’s comments in 2015 reveal an ideological divide between the Palantir CEO and the man who is now his most important customer. Among other projects, Palantir is currently working on software for the government’s immigration enforcers that observers say could be used to help carry out Trump’s deportation goals.

Trump’s plan to “throw out all immigrants,” Karp said, “makes no sense” and “is bringing up the worst that a society can bring up.”

The remarks also highlight a divide inside Palantir itself. Thiel, who co-founded Palantir along with Karp, gave $1.25 million to support Trump’s campaign, spoke in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention, and joined Trump’s transition team. Karp has not publicly expressed his views on President Trump, though he said before the election that he was supporting Hillary Clinton. At the time Karp made the comments in the video, Thiel was still months away from endorsing Trump.



Bryan R. Smith / AFP / Getty Images Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp and Trump adviser Omarosa Manigault at Trump Tower on the day the President-elect met with technology leaders.