Trump’s Three Children Just Participated in Official Meeting With Top Tech CEO’s
‘We Have No Formal Chain of Command Around Here’
Donald Trump’s three adult children participated in Wednesday afternoon’s meeting with 12 top tech leaders, mostly CEO’s. Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric Trump joined the president-elect and Mike Pence in the meeting that was coordinated by billionaire Facebook investor, Libertarian Peter Thiel, a Trump supporter, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. It’s unclear if Kushner attended.
Look who’s sitting at the head of the table in Trump’s official meeting with tech CEO’s: Don Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump. pic.twitter.com/xUYo3QL0g7
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) December 14, 2016
Trump to tech CEOs: “Anything we can do to help, you call me.â€
Presidents are not supposed to say this to huge corporations, btw. pic.twitter.com/yWTHLYIHWl— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) December 14, 2016
All three of Trump’s adult children are part of his transition team, which poses a conflict of interest as at least two of them, Eric and Donald Jr., are expected to take over the family businesses, at least on paper, once Trump is inaugurated. Ivanka Trump is expected to move to D.C. And work alongside her father in the White House.
“I’m here to help you folks do well,” Trump told the group, who gathered around a large table in his Trump Tower offices. “This is truly an amazing group of people.”
Trump to tech leaders: “You’re doing well right now and I’m very honored by the bounce…so right now everybody in this room has to like me†pic.twitter.com/LNhvHg31Wq
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) December 14, 2016
Also participating were Apple’s Tim Cook, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (who personally owns The Washington Post), SpaceX and Tesla’s Elon Musk, Alphabet’s Larry Page, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, IBM’s Ginni Rometty, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Intel’s Brian Krzanich.
“There’s nobody like you in the world. There’s nobody like the people in this room,” Trump said for the camera, promising to “make it a lot easier for you to trade across borders.”
Tech execs meeting with President-elect @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/e2dUmnH2Gu
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 14, 2016
“We want you to keep going with the incredible innovation,” Trump told the group, adding, “you can call my people, call me — it makes no difference — we have no formal chain of command around here.”
USA Today notes that the attendees combines “represent more than 1.3 million U.S. jobs and a total market cap of $2.9 trillion.”
Ahead of the meeting WIRED, anticipating how the meeting would be awkward, reported “Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos made the ripest target as the owner of the Washington Post, which Trump banned from campaign events due to what he saw as unfavorable coverage. He accused Amazon of being a monopoly and said he would sic antitrust forces on the company. Bezos responded with a hashtag: #sendDonaldtospace.”
“Trump also went after Apple, claiming he could get the company to start building its gadgets in the US and calling for a boycott of the company if it refused to hack the San Bernardino shooter’s phone. (In the an apparent lack of understanding of global supply chains in the first instance and of encryption in the in the second.) The president-elect is at odds with the industry, most notably Facebook, on immigration reform. And Silicon Valley sees little upside in Trump’s promised trade war.”
This is not normal. What he said, the presence of his children, the meeting itself. None of this is normal, or okay. https://t.co/GGbRqQfeId
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) December 14, 2016
Â

Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
![]() |