Tech Execs

Apple CEO had dinner with Ivanka, Kushner: report

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly had dinner with President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner in D.C. on Thursday,

Politico said Friday that Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, was also present during the meal at Tosca in downtown Washington.

Jackson is a former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is currently a Clinton Foundation board member. Ivanka Trump has been reportedly interested in a climate-centered role in her father’s White House.

Cook said in an internal memo sent to Apple employees last month he met Trump to have a say in the future of tech policy.

{mosads}

“I think it’s very important to do that because you don’t change things just by yelling,” he wrote in the Dec. 19, 2016, document. “You change things by showing everyone why your way is the best.

“In many ways, it’s a debate of ideas. Personally, I’ve never found being on the sideline a successful place to be. The way you influence these issues is to be in the arena.”

Apple chose not to financially support last July’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where Trump formally received the GOP’s presidential nomination.

The company has contributed funds to both Republican and Democratic national conventions during past election cycles.