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On January 20th, Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States to serve his second term. Immediately after his victory, many tech leaders publicly congratulated Trump and started making moves to win his favor, including schmoozing with the incoming president at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and making donations to his inauguration committee.
Tech leaders should have a visible presence at Trump’s inauguration, with Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Shou Zi Chew, Sundar Pichai, and Sam Altman all reported to be present. Musk is also scheduled to speak at a pre-inauguration rally, and Zuckerberg will reportedly host a black-tie event on Inauguration Day.
We’ll be covering the event and how tech leaders are a part of it.
How to watch Donald Trump’s inauguration
C-SPAN will be hosting a livestream on YouTube. The livestream is scheduled to begin at 7AM ET, and the swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for 12PM ET. The inauguration will take place indoors at the United States Capitol Rotunda because of projected cold weather.
Lawmakers press Meta, Apple, Google, and others on massive Trump donations
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) are putting pressure on big tech firms to explain their motives for donating to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. In letters to Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Uber, the lawmakers express concerns about the companies making contributions to “avoid scrutiny, limit regulation, and buy favor.”
Over the past several weeks, Google, Microsoft, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman all donated $1 million apiece to Trump’s inauguration, while Uber and its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, each contributed $1 million. Many of these tech execs have already met with Trump, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is even hosting an inauguration party for the incoming president, according to The New York Times.
TikTok and Google CEOs will also kiss the ring.
In addition to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Tim Cook reportedly attending Trump’s inauguration on Monday, it now seems that Google’s Sundar Pichai will be attending as well.
Importantly, TikTok CEO Shou Chew is also expected to sit in a position of honor on the dais alongside former presidents and family members. Trump has vowed to save the app facing a US ban.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will reportedly be at Trump’s inauguration, too.
He’ll be seated “alongside other major tech executives,” The New York Times reports. Unclear how close he’ll be to Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg will also help host a party on Inauguration Day, the NYT says.
Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg will all sit together at Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Wonder what their small talk will be like.
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