Meta Donates $1 Million To Trump’s Inaugural Fund Weeks After CEO Zuckerberg Met President-Elect
Key Facts
According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the donation, Zuckerberg’s team had informed Trump’s inaugural team of Meta’s plans to contribute to the fund before his dinner with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago last month.
Meta confirmed to the Journal it had made the donation but did not provide any additional details about why it chose to do so.
Citing public records, the report added that Meta had not made any contribution to Trump’s 2017 or Biden’s 2021 inaugural funds.
According to the Federal Election Commission, corporations are permitted to make donations to an inaugural committee and such contributions are not subject to any limits.
The New York Times previously reported that Trump’s Inaugural Committee was offering special access to donors who either contribute $1 million or raise $2 million.
What Perks Are Offered To Big Trumps Inaugural Fund Donors?
According to the Times report, donors who contribute $1 million or more will receive between six and eight tickets to several inaugural events scheduled between Jan. 17 and 20—including six tickets to the inauguration on Jan. 20. Top donors will also be able to attend a reception with Trump’s cabinet nominees and dinner with Vice President-elect JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance on Jan. 18. A day later the top donor will have a chance to dine with Trump himself and his wife Melania. It is unclear if Zuckerberg or any Meta executive will attend these events.
Tangent
Late last month, Zuckerberg met with Trump at his Mar-A-Lago residence in Florida, in a move that was seen as an effort by the billionaire tech mogul to mend strained ties with the president-elect. At the time a Meta spokesperson said Zuckerberg was “grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and…meet with members of his team about the incoming administration.” Stephen Miller, a close Trump aide who has been picked serve as his deputy chief of staff for policy, told Fox News that Zuckerberg informed Trump during their meeting that “he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trump’s leadership,” and he sees the president-elect as an “agent of change and…prosperity.”
Key Background
Trump has had a tense relationship with Zuckerberg over the past few years and has publicly attacked his social media company, Meta, especially after he was suspended from Facebook and Instagram after the January 6 Capitol riots. At the time, Trump said his suspension was “an insult” to Americans who voted for him, and added: “They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win.” Although his accounts were restored in 2023, Trump continued to lash out at Meta and Zuckerberg. In March, Trump spoke out against a ban on the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok—something he had supported during his first term—and said he considered Facebook a bigger threat and called it “an enemy of the people.” In July, Trump attacked Zuckerberg again in a post on his Truth Social platform where he promised to “pursue Election Fraudsters at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time.” Trump ended his post with “ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!” Despite the attacks and insults, Zuckerberg praised Trump in July after he survived an assassination attempt and told Bloomberg that the photo of him raising his fist after a bullet grazed his ear was “one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
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