Charles Koch says it is ‘possible’ Hillary Clinton could be a better president than a Republican

The businessman has povided millions of dollars to previous Republican candidates

Charles Koch has 'bankrolled' Republicans for years (via YouTube)

Charles Koch, a Republican donor and CEO of Koch industries, has said it is “possible” that he would support Hillary Clinton ahead of Republican candidates in the 2016 election.

In an interview with ABC News, interviewer Jonathan Karl asked the billionaire businessman whether Mr Koch believed Bill Clinton was a better president than George W Bush.

“In some ways. In other ways he wasn’t exemplar. As far as the growth of government, the increase in spending, it was two-and-a-half times under Bush that it was under Clinton,” he said.

Mr Koch and his associates are planning to spend $900 million in the 2016 election, according to Politico.

Mr Karl then asked the 80-year-old political donor and philanthropist whether he could see himself supporting Hillary Clinton.

Mr Koch hesitated but did not deny the implication.

“We would have to believe her actions would have to be quite different than her rhetoric, let me put it that way,” he said.

"Good Morning America" anchor George Stephanopoulos said it was "shocking" to hear Mr Koch make those comments after he spent years “bankrolling Republicans and conservative causes”.

“That shows the pressure the RNC [Republican National Committee] is under which is why people like Paul Manafort [Donald Trump’s adviser] go to the Republican Party and say: ‘Don’t worry about it, Trump can tone it down.”

Reince Priebus, Chairman of the RNC and voted one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year, responded to Mr Koch's comment that he "has gone out of his way to appear non-partisan".

Mr Priebus said in a post on Twitter this week, referring to his TIME award: “The @GOP we built together has never been better prepared or organized to win a presidential election & this award speaks to that.”

As Donald Trump rises to the front lines of the Republican Party, his colleagues including Mitt Romney, presidential candidate in 2012, have spoken against him, accusing Mr Trump of making the party “implode”.