Tom Pritzker to be Axed as Chairman of CSIS over Epstein?

Here is more from Bloomberg: 

Tom Pritzker announced last week that he would retire as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corp., the company that’s a core part of his family’s vast fortune, after the extent of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell surfaced in a trove of millions of files released by the Department of Justice. 

While Pritzker stepped back from his role at Hyatt, he remains a trustee for the University of Chicago and serves on the board for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The executive committee of CSIS met Sunday to discuss the correspondence between Pritzker and Epstein at the request of John Hamre, the group’s chief executive officer and a former US deputy secretary of defense. The discussion lasted 90 minutes with Pritzker in attendance for the first 25 minutes, according to a note sent by Hamre to colleagues. The executive committee didn’t reach a conclusion, Hamre wrote.

 

Pritzker was named chairman of the CSIS Board of Trustees in 2015, succeeding former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA). 

The think tank also has a Pritzker Chair, which is considered to be one of CSIS's most prestigious positions.  The current chair is Thomas Christensen.

On Feb. 25, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, a longtime think tanker, said he would resign from teaching at Harvard University at the end of the academic year, amid continued fallout over his ties to Epstein. 

On Feb. 26, World Economic Forum (WEF) chief Børge Brende said he is stepping down from that position after facing pressure over his contacts with Epstein.

CNN is keeping a running list of people impacted by the Epstein scandal. 

Trump-Aligned AFPI Expands in DC

Here is more from Politico:

The Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute bought the historic Colorado Building at 14th and G NW — massively expanding its footprint in Washington just steps away from the White House.

— AFPI finalized the sale in January and paid $20 million for the building, which sits near the Treasury Building and the soon-to-be new East Wing of the White House. The group was behind much of the Trump team transition planning and is filled with Trump loyalists. It was co-founded by now-Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and now-Education Secretary Linda McMahon was the group’s chair before she left for the Trump transition team.

— AFPI was founded in 2021, and its rise to prominence in Washington, both in influence and now in footprint, was swift.

 

Mr. Greg Sindelar is the current Interim President and and CEO of AFPI.  He is also the CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), an Austin, Texas based conservative think tank that expanded into Washington, DC in 2018.

Think Tank Quickies (#328)

• Tino Cuellar is stepping down as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in July after nearly five years.  He'll lead the Center for Advanced Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. 
• Claremonsters (i.e., Claremont Institute fellows) are everywhere in the Trump Administration. By one count at least 70 hold or have held jobs there.  "Unlike other think tanks, Claremont does not churn out policy papers.  Rather, its focus is on history and principle."
• Economist says that the American Enterprise Institute has "faded into irrelevance." 
• The MAGA-friendly think tanks Trump wants to fund. 
• Kevin Rudd, Australian ambassador to the US, will leave his post and lead the Asia Society.  His days were seen to be numbered after President Trump publicly said "I don't like you."
• Washington's Asia experts shift from think tanks to private power firms. 
• The National Conservatism Conference (NatCon) is run by the Edmund Burke Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank led by Yoram Hazony.
• Gene Sperling is starting an Economic Dignity Lab at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. 
• McCain Institute hosted the first international expansion of its Sedona Forum at the International House of Japan in Tokyo. 
• A new polling memo from influential Democratic think tank Searchlight Institute is urging Democrats to "play hardball" over the shutdown and use their "leverage to reform ICE."  [Searchlight is run by Adam Jentleson, the former chief of staff to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and top aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).]