Senators 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, reports The Verge.
In letters to Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Uber, the lawmakers express concerns about the companies making contributions to “avoid scrutiny, limit regulation, and buy favor.”
On January 3, it was reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund,
Axios says the donation will come directly from Cook, and won’t be a donation from Apple, Inc. It reflects a long, collaborative relationship between Trump and Cook that included many meetings during Trump’s first term, and dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month, the article adds.
Sens. Warren and Bennet have posed several questions to Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Uber, asking for their “rationale” behind the contributions as well as “when and under what circumstances” the companies decided to make a donation. They’re giving the companies until January 30 to respond, notes The Verge.
