Tag Archives: CHRIS MEGERIAN

Associated Press: Trump will host top tech CEOs except Musk at a White House dinner

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President Donald Trump will host a high-powered list of tech CEOs for a dinner at the White House on Thursday night.

The guest list is set to include Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and a dozen other executives from the biggest artificial intelligence and tech firms, according to the White House.

One notable absence from the guest list is Elon Musk, once a close ally of Trump, whom the Republican president tasked with running the government-slashing Department of Government Efficiency. Musk had a public breakup with Trump earlier this year.

The dinner will be held in the Rose Garden, where Trump recently paved over the grassy lawn and set up tables, chairs and umbrellas that look strikingly similar to the outdoor setup at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

“The Rose Garden Club at the White House is the hottest place to be in Washington, or perhaps the world,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement. “The president looks forward to welcoming top business, political, and tech leaders for this dinner and the many dinners to come on the new, beautiful Rose Garden patio.”

The event will follow a meeting of the White House’s new Artificial Intelligence Education task force, which first lady Melania Trump will chair.

“During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance,” she said in a statement. “We are living in a moment of wonder, and it is our responsibility to prepare America’s children.”

At least some of the attendees at the president’s Thursday’s dinner are expected to participate in the task force meeting, which aims to develop AI education for American youths.

The White House confirmed that the guest list for the dinner is also set to include Google founder Sergey Brin and CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and founder Greg Brockman, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Blue Origin CEO David Limp, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, TIBCO Software chairman Vivek Ranadive, Palantir executive Shyam Sankar, Scale AI founder and CEO Alexandr Wang and Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.

Isaacman was an associate of Musk whom Trump nominated to lead NASA, only to revoke the nomination around the time of his breakup with Musk. Trump cited the revocation of the nomination as one of the reasons Musk was upset with him and called Isaacman “totally a Democrat.”

The dinner was first reported Wednesday by The Hill.

As my little brother would have said many years ago, “Musk is cut!”

Trump will host top tech CEOs at a White House dinner. Musk won’t be there
President Donald Trump will host a high-powered list of tech CEOs for a dinner at the White House. The White House says Thursday’s guest list includes Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and a dozen other executives from the biggest artificial intelligence a

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tech-ceos-white-house-rose-garden-e234e719d96d299d2f670037f9505a9f

Associated Press: Trump’s $600 million war chest: How he plans to wield his power in the midterms and beyond

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Between a barrage of executive orders, foreign trips and norm-shattering proclamations, Donald Trump has also been busy raking in cash.

The president has amassed a war chest of at least $600 million in political donations heading into the midterm elections, according to three people familiar with the matter. It’s an unprecedented sum in modern politics, particularly for a lame-duck president who is barred by the U.S. Constitution from running again.

The only way for MAGA & King Donald to survive is to buy their way through the mid-term elections in 2026.

Trump’s $600 million war chest: How he plans to wield his power in the midterms and beyond
Between a barrage of executive orders, foreign trips and norm-shattering proclamations, President Donald Trump has also been busy raking in cash.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-fundraising-midterms-leverage-ccee4d19d5b41f08504370839fb36364

Associated Press: Trump’s plan to accept free Air Force One replacement from Qatar raises ethical and security worries

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For President Donald Trump, accepting a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar is a no-brainer.

“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” the Republican told reporters on Monday. “I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’”

Critics of the plan worry that the move threatens to turn a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns.

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But security is the primary concern when it comes to presidential travel. The current Air Force One planes were built from scratch near the end of the Cold War. They are hardened against the effects of a nuclear blast and include a range of security features, such as anti-missile countermeasures and an onboard operating room. They are also equipped with air-to-air refueling capabilities for contingencies, though it has never been utilized with a president on board.

A former U.S. official briefed on the Air Force One replacement project said that while it would be possible to add some features to the Qatari jet, there was no way to add the full suite of capabilities to the plane on a tight timetable.

Trump’s plan to accept free Air Force One replacement from Qatar raises ethical and security worries
For President Donald Trump, accepting a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar is a no-brainer. But Trump’s plan threatens to turn a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns.

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-qatar-air-force-one-2ef13d87b71185bde547abe6840b098c