“I will continue to find ways to support Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump,” said billionaire hedge fund manager Seth Klarman. | Getty Billionaire Seth Klarman backs Clinton, calls Trump's comments 'shockingly unacceptable'

A billionaire hedge fund manager who has donated to political action committees backing Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Marco Rubio during this election cycle announced Wednesday that he now feels compelled to support Hillary Clinton for president.

Seth Klarman, president and CEO of The Baupost Group, told Reuters in a statement that he found recent comments from Donald Trump “shockingly unacceptable,” specifically those in which the Republican nominee suggested that the general election will be “rigged.” Klarman called that comment from Trump “particularly dangerous.”


“I will continue to find ways to support Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump,” said Klarman, who donated $5,400 to the former secretary of state’s campaign in June.

Klarman is registered as an independent voter and has given money to candidates from both parties in the past. According to filings reviewed by Reuters, the hedge fund manager previously donated money to Clinton’s previous presidential campaign, as well as to Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Mark Warner. But he has also donated to Republican campaigns, including those of Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"He is completely unqualified for the highest office in the land,” Klarman said in his statement to Reuters.

Klarman’s decision to publicly back Clinton and denounce Trump adds his name to a growing list of individuals who might otherwise support the GOP ticket abandoning it in favor of the Democratic one. Earlier this week, Hewlett Packard CEO and prominent Republican fundraiser Meg Whitman announced that she intends to fundraise for Clinton’s campaign and vote for her in November’s general election over Trump, whom she labeled a “demagogue.”

The mass defections from Trump come amid perhaps the roughest stretch yet of what has already been a rocky presidential campaign for the GOP nominee. Trump’s latest controversies, which have included feuding with Gold Star parents who criticized him at the Democratic National Convention and refusing to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan in his upcoming primary, have set off a fresh wave of concerns about his campaign’s viability against Clinton, whose post-convention lead in the polls has grown dramatically in recent days.

Republican staff members and even lawmakers have begun to turn on Trump as well. Sally Bradshaw, a campaign manager for Bush’s gubernatorial runs and a top adviser on his 2016 presidential bid, announced this week that she will vote for the former secretary of state if the election in her home state of Florida is close, and longtime Christie aide Maria Comella has made public her intention to break from her longtime boss and vote for Clinton.

Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), who has already said he plans to retire at the end of his term, also announced in an op-ed earlier this week that he will break with his party and vote for Clinton this November. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) also says he won't vote for Trump.