Apple CEO Tim Cook Meeting With Republican Lawmakers in Washington

Apple CEO Tim Cook this week traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with top Republican lawmakers, reports Bloomberg. Cook is said to be aiming to create ties with the GOP as it prepares to assume control of the House in the new year.

tim cook data privacy day
Cook has scheduled meetings with Ohio's Jim Jordan, California's Darrell Issa, and Washington's Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Jordan and McMorris Rodgers will likely be involved with committees that are overseeing the tech industry, heading up the House Judiciary Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, respectively.

Apple is dealing with U.S. antitrust legislation that could result in major changes to the company's App Store policies. There are five separate bipartisan bills that are being considered, and just this week, Twitter CEO Elon Musk spurred lawmaker interest in Apple with his claim that Apple has threatened to "withhold Twitter from its ‌App Store‌" and has stopped advertising on Twitter.

As Bloomberg points out, Cook's meetings were scheduled weeks before Musk's Twitter rant, but Twitter could be a topic of discussion. Jim Jordan, who Cook is meeting with, has publicly supported Musk, for example.

Cook will also meet with Republican Senator John Cornyn from Texas, Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich from New Mexico and Democratic Senator Brian Schatz from Hawaii as Apple aims to steer regulators away from ‌App Store‌ legislation and questions about the company's device manufacturing in China.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Shows Off a Key Reason to Upgrade to the iPhone 17

Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie. "Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Finder Siri Feature

Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised

Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation...
wwdc sans text feature

Apple Rumored to Announce New Product on February 19

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld. The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld. Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says These 7 U.S. States Plan to Offer iPhone Driver's Licenses

Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future. To set up the...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New MacBook Pros Could Now Arrive in March

Sunday February 8, 2026 6:02 am PST by
New MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips could arrive as soon as Monday, March 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In today's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the release of new MacBook Pro models is tied to the release of macOS Tahoe 26.3. The launch is said to be slated for as early as the week of March 2. He added that the M4 Pro and M4 Max models on sale today...

Top Rated Comments

sw1tcher Avatar
42 months ago

Apple CEO Tim Cook this week traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with top Republican lawmakers, reports Bloomberg. Cook is said to be aiming to create ties with the GOP as it prepares to assume control of the House in the new year.

Cook has scheduled meetings with Ohio's Kim Jordan, California's Darrell Issa, and Washington's Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Jordan and McMorris Rodgers will likely be involved with committees that are overseeing the tech industry, heading up the House Judiciary Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, respectively.

Apple is dealing with U.S. antitrust legislation that could result in major changes to the company's App Store policies.
Close-up picture taken of Tim Cook shaking the hands of lawmakers ?



Attachment Image
Score: 77 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TSE Avatar
42 months ago
Tim Cook looks like he's at court staring at the man who killed his parents.
Score: 61 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
42 months ago
I hope Greg “Joz” Joswiak - (Senior Vice President Worldwide Marketing) is going with him.

Tim Cook seems to love the government and politics. Why can't he just focus on Apple solely and enrich lives? I just don't see innovation and politics going together. It always becomes a burden.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
1557750 Avatar
42 months ago
Why the frowny face, Tim…?


Attachment Image
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lounge vibes 05 Avatar
42 months ago

Tim Cook seems to love the government and politics. Why can't he just focus on Apple solely and enrich lives? I just don't see innovation and politics going together. It always becomes a burden.
I don’t think you understand the position that Apple is in.
If it were up to Apple, they wouldn’t have to interact with politicians.
But that is not the world that we live in.
They’re the most valuable company in the world, of course they have to negotiate.
Steve Jobs also had to communicate and negotiate with politicians, although to be fair “big tech” or whatever you want to call it was very much not a major concern of the US government at the time in comparison to what it is today.
But in the last several months of Jobs’s time at Apple, he met with Barack Obama no less than two times within four months, possibly more.
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/10/21/barack-obama-and-steve-jobs-meeting-today-to-discuss-economy-and-technology/
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/16/steve-jobs-to-meet-with-obama-on-thursday/
And he also technically had a spot in the George HW Bush administration
https://9to5mac.com/2012/02/10/steve-jobs-did-serve-in-the-first-bush-administration/
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ion-X Avatar
42 months ago
As expected, he talks up progressive values while currying favor with conservatives.

It’s absolutely shameless how quickly Tim abandons concepts like “freedom of speech” when it comes to authoritarian regimes like the Chinese Communist Party!
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)