Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was caught on a hot mic admitting to Donald Trump that he had no idea how to answer a question while sitting next to the president at a White House event.
Zuckerberg was among the moguls in attendance for a dinner on Thursday, alongside Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the founder and CEO of Google, Sergey Brin, and Sundar Pichai, and OpenAI founder Sam Altman.
Trump asked the Meta CEO and founder how much he was planning on spending in the US during the televised event.
‘Oh gosh, um, I think it’s probably gonna be, something like, I don’t know, at least $600 billion through ’28, in the US, yeah,’ he responded.
Trump noted that it was a lot of money, and Zuckerberg confessed, ‘Yeah, no it’s significant’.
Later on in the event, Zuckerberg was heard apologizing to Trump and admitting that he wasn’t ready for the question.
Trump laughed and told Melania, who was seated on his other side, that Zuckerberg wasn’t prepared.
‘I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with,’ Zuckerberg confessed.
Mark Zuckerberg was caught in a hot mic moment after Trump asked him about his US investment plans at a dinner event in the State Dining Room
Zuckerberg was caught admitting to Trump that he wasn’t prepared for the question and didn’t know ‘which number’ that the president ‘wanted to go with’.
Trump seemed to laugh off Zuckerberg’s confession and told First Lady Melania Trump that the Meta CEO wasn’t prepared (Pictured: Zuckerberg testifying before Congress in a hearing on Facebook’s use of data during the 2016 election).
Daily Mail reached out to Meta for comment on Zuckerberg’s ‘hot mic’ remarks.
In another awkward moment, Zuckerberg admitted that he ‘wasn’t paying attention’ when a reporter asked him about free speech legislation in the UK.
Trump then joked that it was ‘the beginning’ of Zuckerberg’s political career, which the CEO denied with a laugh.
The president also asked other moguls at the dinner about their US investment plans, including Pichai, who said Google was planning on investing $250 billion in the US, and Cook said that Apple was also planning on investing $600 billion.
‘I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we can make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing here,’ Cook told Trump when he announced the investment.
‘I think it says a lot about your leadership and focus on innovation,’ he added.
The high-profile event was a ‘who’s who’ in Silicon Valley, with the world’s most influential tech leaders, including 13 billionaires, in attendance.
The sit-down dinner in the State Dining Room followed a summit hosted by the first lady earlier in the day on artificial intelligence in education.
Zuckerbert also admitted that he wasn’t paying attention when a reporter asked him about legislation in the UK over free speech
Trump joked that it was ‘the beginning’ of Zuckerberg’s political career, which the CEO denied
The event was initially meant to debut the newly renovated Rose Garden, but the dinner was moved to the dining room due to rain.
The president began the dinner by thanking the moguls, praising the intelligence of the attendees, and boasting that it was ‘definitely a high IQ group’.
‘I know everybody at the table indirectly through reading about you and studying, knowing a lot about your business, actually making it very easy for you in terms of electric capacity and getting it for you, getting your permits’.
The tech leaders took turns speaking and used the opportunity to offer unfiltered praise for the president.
The event hosted multiple high-profile tech leaders, including 13 billionaires and past critics of Trump
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates sat next to First Lady Melania Trump and spoke about the importance of scientific innovation
Even previous Trump critics like Gates praised the president and thanked him for his collaboration in the tech industry.
Altman, who once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler, thanked the president for being ‘pro-business’ and ‘pro-innovation,’ adding that his embrace of the tech industry was ‘a very refreshing change’.
‘I think it’s going to set us up for a long period of leading the world, and that wouldn’t be happening without your leadership,’ he added.
Trump’s former head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk, colloquially referred to as the ‘First Buddy’ was notably absent from the event.
