Tech boss Sam Altman has hit back at Democrats who criticized him for donating $1 million of his personal cash to Donald Trump‘s inaugural fund.
The OpenAI CEO received a letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bennet last week, which accused him of trying to ‘cozy up’ to the president to avoid federal scrutiny.
The senators posed a series of questions ostensibly aimed at discovering his motivations for the cash gift.
Altman, 39, shared the letter and pushed back at the suggestion, saying: ‘Funny, they never sent me one of these for contributing to Democrats’.
He then went on to explain that the senators allegations were unfounded since the money was donated by Altman personally.
‘It was a personal contribution as you state; I am confused about the questions given that my company did not make a decision,’ he added.
The letter stated that big tech companies including Altman’s had made, ‘million dollar gifts to president-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund in what appears to be an effort to influence and sway the action and policies of the incoming administration.
‘Big Tech companies have come under increased scrutiny from federal regulators,” the Senators continued.
‘We are concerned that your company and other Big Tech donors are using your massive contributions to the inaugural fund to cozy up to the incoming Trump administration.’
The letter went on to point out that several companies including OpenAI are under investigation and regulatory actions.
Altman’s company is currently subject to an FTC probe over alleged consumer harm and an SEC investigation for potentially misleading investors.
The senators suggested that OpenAI along with the likes of Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft are trying to ‘curry favor’ ahead of the completion of the investigations.
Altman was among the tech bosses who were invited to Trump’s inauguration yesterday.
He was pictured chatting to boxer Logan Paul and his brother Jake Paul ahead of the ceremony.
Trump was surrounded by tech titans and media moguls as he was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook were all present inside St. John’s church in the capital and the Capitol Rotunda.
The three were spotted chatting amongst themselves as they attended the morning service with Trump to kick off his inauguration.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai was also spotted sitting behind the three, with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew also pictured after the service.
The group of tech titans were then seen sitting together alongside Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez and Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan for the inauguration ceremony.
Other guests seen inside the Church of the Presidents and the rotunda included the likes of podcaster Joe Rogan and former Fox News’ media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
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