Facebook founder Mark Zuckerbeg made the trek to Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, where he met with President-elect Donald Trump and members of his soon-to-be second administration.
The Meta CEO was seen with a large security and staff presence while at Trump’s private Palm Beach club in the evening, a person with direct knowledge told POLITICO.
On Fox News, Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller confirmed POLITICO’s reporting that Zuckerberg was there, saying he “has made it very clear about his desire to be a supporter of and a participant in this change that we’re seeing all around America, all around the world, this reform movement that Donald Trump is leading.”
A spokesperson for Meta also confirmed the meeting, saying in a statement that Zuckerberg was “grateful” for an invitation to join Trump for dinner, and meet with other members of the incoming administration. The spokesperson said: “It’s an important time for the future of American innovation.”
Trump in recent years has publicly railed against Zuckerberg, criticizing his decision to give hundreds of millions of dollars toward election infrastructure in 2020, which Trump described as election interference. Trump has repeatedly suggested Zuckerberg should be imprisoned, and threatened to do so if he spent similarly toward election infrastructure this year.
But both men in recent months have suggested they were coming around to each other. Trump in October told the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast that he was feeling better about Zuckerberg, saying it was “nice” that he was “staying out of the election” this time, and expressing gratitude for Zuckerberg calling him after the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“We’ll see what comes of that,” Miller told Fox News of the interest Zuckerberg expressed in working in conjunction with Trump. “And Mark, obviously he has his own interest and he has his own company and his own agenda, but he’s made clear he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trump’s leadership.”