It looks like tech giants like Apple, Google, and Meta are among some companies facing scrutiny by US lawmakers over their generous donations to US President Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bennet have sent letters to Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, and Uber demanding answers regarding its recent donations.
Generous, personal donations
Over the past few weeks, the companies mentioned above and some of their CEOs have made massive donations to Trump’s inauguration fund. This involved donations amounting to $1 million each. In some cases, like Apple, OpenAI, and Uber, its CEOs made those donations personally.
Companies donating to a President’s inauguration isn’t new. However, what caught the attention of these lawmakers was the amount that was donated. For context, when Joe Biden became President, the amount that these companies donated paled in comparison to how much they donated to Trump.
According to FCC filings, Uber donated $1 million, while Microsoft donated $500,000. Google donated $337,500, while Amazon donated $276,509. Apple donated a paltry $43,200, while Meta and OpenAI didn’t donate anything at all. So far, none of the companies have responded to the letter, except for OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, who seemed to take offense to these accusations in a post on X.
The Senators have given the companies until the 30th of January to respond.
Ulterior motives
Unsurprisingly, these companies and their CEOs are being pressed to answer questions about their donations to Trump. With Trump being the new President of the United States, he has a lot of control and say over what goes on in the country. This includes decisions over taxes, import or export restrictions, and more.
In fact, the recent restoration of TikTok’s services following Trump’s intervention is a perfect example of that. Deepwater Asset Management analyst, Gene Munster previously reported that companies like Apple could benefit from Trump taking office. During his campaign, Trump said that he would enact a protectionist approach to the US economy. This basically involved imposing tariffs on imports from China.
This would affect many companies, such as Apple, which relies heavily on China to manufacture its products. However, Munster suggested that Trump could spare companies like Apple and Tesla from paying the higher end of these tariffs. This is why Senators Warren and Bennet are concerned that these donations might be a way to curry favor. It would also allow these companies to avoid regulations that could hurt their bottom line.
