Trump to Host Tech Leaders in First Rose Garden Event After Renovation
U.S. President Donald Trump will host more than two dozen technology and business leaders for a dinner in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden on Thursday, a White House official confirmed. The guest list includes Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The event underscores Trump’s shifting relationship with Silicon Valley. Once marked by frequent clashes over issues like content moderation and antitrust, the dynamic has changed since his 2024 election victory. Tech executives have since sought closer ties with the administration, aligning with the rollback of diversity and equity initiatives while engaging Trump on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, “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.”
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, was not on the invite list, though he said on his social media platform X that he “was invited, but unfortunately could not attend,” adding that a representative would be present. Musk previously split with Trump after serving as an adviser earlier this year.
The Rose Garden renovation, completed in August, replaced the iconic lawn with a stone patio and umbrella-covered tables inspired by Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The dinner follows a White House event on AI hosted by First Lady Melania Trump earlier in the day.
Other executives expected include Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Blue Origin CEO David Limp, Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, and Meta’s chief AI officer Alexandr Wang.



