Billionaire Investor Chamath Palihapitiya Says Media Misled Public on Trump’s Character

NEW YORK (VINnews) – Billionaire investor and former venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya accused the media of lying to millions of Americans about President Donald Trump, saying he personally realized he had been misled after reviewing original source material.

In remarks that have drawn significant attention, Palihapitiya said revisiting the facts led him to reverse his previous views on the president’s character.

“The reality is that most of us were lied to by the media about President Trump,” Palihapitiya said. “And if you just go back to the source material, you should take away two things. One, he didn’t say half the things he said, and two, why did these other people just fabricate what they wanted to say so that they could essentially assassinate his character?”

Palihapitiya described the alleged media practices as “completely unacceptable in America” and noted that there have been “no repercussions, really.”

He recounted admitting his error publicly on his podcast, which has millions of viewers. Palihapitiya specifically referenced the 2017 Charlottesville events as a turning point.

“I took the time to learn about it,” he said. “I admitted … the way that I met him was, I admitted on the pod … And I said, I got it totally wrong because I went and I watched Charlottesville.”

According to Palihapitiya, Trump was the first person to call him after the admission.

“I got to know him and I put the phone down, I called my wife, and I said, we got it TOTALLY, totally wrong. We were lied to,” he recalled. “And then I got to know him and he is fantastic!”

Palihapitiya’s comments come amid ongoing debates about media coverage of Trump during and after his presidency. The investor, known for his work at Facebook and as an early backer of numerous tech companies, has increasingly voiced contrarian views on politics and culture in recent years.