Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Elon Musk, right, arrives before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Google CEO Sundar Pichai, left, and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)
Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-POOL, Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Some of the most exclusive seats at President Donald Trump鈥檚 inauguration on Monday were reserved for powerful tech CEOs who also happen to be among the world鈥檚 richest men.
That's a shift from tradition, especially for a president who has characterized himself as a . Seats so close to the president are usually reserved for the president's family, past presidents and other honored guests.
Photos show the tech CEOs mingling with several of Trump's picks for the Cabinet, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary and Marco Rubio as secretary of state.
In one image, Rubio looks on from the background, facing a lineup of tech's wealthiest leaders. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, stand beside Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his fiancee, Lauren S谩nchez, along with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, one of Trump's closest advisers. The world's wealthiest person, Musk also runs Tesla, SpaceX and the social platform X.
Also at the Capitol for the day's events were Apple CEO Tim Cook and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
The mega-rich have long had a prominent role in national politics, and several billionaires helped bankroll the campaign of Trump鈥檚 Democratic opponent, Vice President . Then-President Joe Biden recently gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to , a billionaire donor to liberal causes.
But the inaugural display highlights the unusually direct role the world's wealthiest people will likely have in the new administration. In his outgoing address, Biden warned that the U.S. was becoming an of tech billionaires wielding dangerous levels of power and influence on the nation.
Speaking in the Oval Office Monday, Trump rejected Biden's criticism, saying the tech executives supported Democrats until they realized Biden 鈥渄idn't know what the hell he was talking about.鈥
鈥淭hey did desert him,鈥 Trump added. "They were all with him, every one of them, and now they are all with me.鈥
Despite taking millions from the executives and their companies for his inaugural committee 鈥 and receiving more than $200 million in assistance from Musk in his presidential campaign 鈥 Trump claimed he didn't need their money and they wouldn't be receiving anything in return.
鈥淭hey're not going to get anything from me," Trump said. "I don't need money, but I do want the nation to do well, and they're smart people and they create a lot of jobs.鈥
___
The Associated Press鈥痳eceives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP鈥檚 democracy initiative . The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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