Out billionaire Peter Thiel plans on
Monday to defend his support for Donald Trump's presidential
ambitions.
Estimated to be worth $2.8 billion,
Thiel co-founded PayPal and served as its CEO. He's the current
chairman of Palantir and serves on Facebook's board of directors. He
is among only a handful of tech entrepreneurs to embrace Trump's
campaign.
Earlier this month, Thiel revealed that
he was donating $1.25 million to the Trump campaign.
The announcement caused a backlash,
including accusations that he was promoting
racism and intolerance.
According to The
New York Times, Thiel will defend his support in a speech at
the National Press Club in Washington, followed by a
question-and-answer session with reporters.
Thiel told the Times that Trump
supporters separate Trump's behavior from his policies.
“The millions of people who vote for
Trump are not doing it because of the worst things he said or did,”
Thiel said. “That's ridiculous. The Americans who are voting for
Trump are doing it because they judge the situation of the country to
be urgent. We're at such a crucial point that you have to overlook
personal characteristics.”
During July's Republican National
Convention in Cleveland, Thiel declared that he's “proud” to be a
gay Republican. “But most of all, I am proud to be an American,”
he added.