BURSTFormer Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) argued that the donations from tech companies to President-elect Trump are not causing any “harm.”
“To these guys, a million dollars is nothing, right?” Jones said Saturday on a CNN panel. “Because it literally is nothing to these guys...I think there is a very strong business case to be made for them doing what they’re doing.”
Jones noted that as the next Trump administration prepares to take over, it has its eyes set on the tech industry.
His remarks come as leaders of big tech companies seek to get on Trump’s good side before he takes office. Meta and Amazon each announced they would be donating $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. OpenAI’s Sam Altman also said he’d give $1 million from his personal funds.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg held a meeting several weeks ago at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The two have had a rocky relationship after Trump was temporarily banned from Facebook after the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Jones argued that GOP leaders say there’s an ongoing “conservative censorship” happening on various social platforms, and it “behooves” them all to appeal to Trump before he takes office again.
“That may make people uncomfortable, but as a strictly business matter, I think it’s the appropriate thing to do, as horrifying as it is that you have to bend the knee is this way about profit over people,” he said.
CNN’s Abby Phillip had to quiet her other panel guests over Jones’s comments, which sparked an argument.
While it’s nothing new for donations to be made to a president’s inaugural fund, some concerns have been raised about the financial support of Trump’s second term. Observers have seen the move as part of a broader effort to court Trump as he strengthens his relationship with X CEO Elon Musk.
Some panelists objected to Jones’s remarks, highlighting the concern for the donation as the companies employ thousands of Americans. Still, the former New York lawmaker argued it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“I just want to say that giving a couple million dollars to the Inaugural Committee is not doing the kind of harm that you guys are talking about,” Jones said.