President Donald J. Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosted a who’s who of the tech world for dinner Thursday evening at the White House, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates; Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg; Apple CEO Tim Cook; Google co-founder Sergey Brin and CEO Sundar Pichai; and OpenAI founder Sam Altman.
(Interestingly, Elon Musk was conspicuously absent — he said in a post on X that he “was invited, but unfortunately could not attend.”)
At one point, Trump praised Brin’s “really wonderful MAGA girlfriend,” Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, who raised her arms in celebration over the president’s attention — the exchange begins at the 3:05 minute mark in the video below:
Here’s the beginning of the event, with the following people speaking:
Mark Zuckerberg (Meta)
David Sacks (WH Science & Tech)
Sergey Brin’s girlfriend
Sergey Brin (Alphabet)I don’t know the name of Brin’s girlfriend.
. pic.twitter.com/DKsPmALo3A— Paul Villarreal (AKA Vince Manfeld) (@AureliusStoic1) September 5, 2025
“Sergey, you were saying a lot at the Oval Office,” Trump said. “I figured you’re somebody that likes to speak with his really wonderful MAGA girlfriend. So, would you like to say a few words?”
“Well, babe, do you want to say something?” Brin replied, yielding the floor to his partner.
“Truly, every time I’m here or in your presence, I’m so grateful, so thank you,” Gilbert-Soto told the president. “It’s like, I can’t believe it every time, like the inauguration here. I think you’re doing amazing work.”
Brin would then thank Trump for “applying pressure to” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and compliment Trump for his policies on artificial intelligence.
“I think that’s phenomenal for an American president, actually, to be applying pressure there in Venezuela and then hopefully in Cuba and so forth,” the Google co-founder said. “So there’s a lot of civil rights work that you’re leading, we didn’t get a chance to mention.”
“The fact that your administration is supporting our companies instead of fighting with them is hugely important,” Brin added. “Obviously, it’s a global race, and I think we’re at the cusp where these AI models are about to become profoundly useful. Kind of beyond the ‘okay, wow, it’s cool, can do that,’ but actually day-to-day, incredible utility, incredible productivity. So very grateful for your administration’s support.”
Fox News host Jesse Watters did a segment on the White House dinner for tech leaders, suggesting on X that, “The BILLIONAIRES are ALL KISSING THE RING.”
BREAKING: Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and GOOGLE just went to the White House to have DINNER with TRUMP
(The BILLIONAIRES are ALL KISSING THE RING) pic.twitter.com/oSBq0pyIYn
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) September 5, 2025
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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