London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

This billionaire says Elizabeth Warren is a 'superficial, nasty hater'

This billionaire says Elizabeth Warren is a 'superficial, nasty hater'

Hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman escalated his fight with Elizabeth Warren on Friday by calling the Democratic presidential candidate a "superficial, nasty hater" who isn't interested in dealing with facts.

"The voting public should not be taken in by this political charlatan," Cooperman told CNN Business.

His comments come after Warren took her clash with billionaires to their home turf by airing ads on CNBC, making the case for a wealth tax aimed at easing America's inequality problem.

Warren's commercial called out Cooperman, who was charged by the SEC with insider trading in 2016. Those charges were settled when Cooperman agreed to pay a fine of nearly $5 million.

Cooperman, the son of a plumber who has pledged to give away his entire fortune to charity, took issue with Warren bringing up the "SEC baloney." He noted that he did not admit nor deny fault and avoided getting barred from the industry.

"Any attorney will tell you I won the case because there was no case," Cooperman said. "But what does this have to do with her qualifications to be president? I'm not running for office - she is."

He added that Warren "impresses me as a superficial, nasty hater that doesn't seem interested in dealing with facts."


Cooperman 'can't escape the tax'

Warren isn't backing down. She signaled on Friday plans to ramp up her ad blitz pushing for a wealth tax.

"Some of the scared billionaires who oppose it are going on TV and tweeting their complaints," Warren tweeted. "It clearly struck a nerve. But we need this tax to help working families-so we're increasing our ad buy."

Warren's campaign responded to Cooperman's latest remarks by pointing out the high stakes for the billionaire.

"We're going to tax Leon Cooperman's fortune of $3.2 billion," Saloni Sharma, Warren's national deputy press secretary, told CNN Business in an email.

Cooperman "can't escape the tax" because it will apply as long as he's an American citizen, Sharma said. If Cooperman renounced his citizenship, he would have to pay a 40% exit tax on every dollar of his fortune above $50 million, she said.

"We're going to be giving the IRS the teeth and the tools to make sure the billionaires pay up," Sharma said.

Warren has called for imposing a wealth tax of 6 cents on every dollar of net worth above $1 billion. Her campaign says the wealth tax could be used to pay for proposed programs such as universal child care, universal pre-school, canceling student loan debt and Medicare-for-All.

Warren's agenda is aimed at tackling America's inequality problem head-on. The top 1% of US households now controls $34.7 trillion of the nation's wealth, according to the Federal Reserve. The bottom 50% of families holds only $2.1 trillion.

"All we're saying is when you make it big, pitch in two cents so everyone else gets a chance," Warren said during her ad that aired on Thursday on CNBC, a network that often hosts the billionaires whose wealth the Democrat wants to tax.

Beyond the wealth tax, Warren has also called for breaking up Facebook (FB) and banning the fracking of oil and gas.


Blankfein warns against vilifying

Warren's aggressive agenda and her tough tone have sparked a backlash from other wealthy individuals.

Lloyd Blankfein, a registered Democrat and the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, has acknowledged the inequality problem and supports taxing the rich more.

However, Blankfein recently told CNN's Poppy Harlow that he fears Warren wants "cataclysmic change" to the US economy. Warren featured those comments in her CNBC ad and then called Blankfein out for getting a $70 million pay package in 2007, the year the Great Recession began.

Blankfein, who backed Hillary Clinton in 2016, responded by hinting at Warren's past disputed claims to Native American heritage.

"Vilification of people as a member of a group may be good for her campaign, not the country," Blankfein tweeted on Thursday. "Maybe tribalism is just in her DNA."


Warren fired another verbal shot at Blankfein on Friday.

"He ran Goldman Sachs while it misled its own clients in order to turn a profit, which helped create the 2008 crash," Warren tweeted. "His bank then took billions in backdoor taxpayer bailouts, and no one was held accountable."

Cooperman said he sent a letter to Warren late last month that, he complains, she never responded to. The letter, which Cooperman provided to CNN Business, suggested alternatives to a wealth tax, such as eliminating loopholes in the tax code and implementing a surtax on millionaires.

"The fact is, Senator Warren, that despite our philosophical differences, we should be working together to find common ground in this vital conversation -- not firing off snarky tweets that stir your base at the expense of accuracy," Cooperman wrote.
Yet the rhetoric has only gotten more heated in the weeks since he sent that letter.

Cooperman, however, said his letter was "respectful and, if I must say, was extremely well done."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
×