Trump to host tech leaders for dinner Thursday in newly renovated Rose Garden
President Donald Trump will host tech leaders for a dinner in the Rose Garden on Thursday, the first event to be held in the newly renovated space.
The guest list for Thursday’s event is expected to include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to a White House official.
A source familiar told CNN the dinner plans came together quickly, with the event taking place the same day First Lady Melania Trump will host a rare public event at the White House focused on artificial intelligence.
CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, Sundar Pichai is set to speak at the first lady’s afternoon event and then attend the Rose Garden dinner.
In a statement to CNN, the White House called the renovated space the “Rose Garden Club” and said the president looks forward to “welcoming top business, political, and tech leaders for this dinner.”
“The Rose Garden Club at the White House is the hottest place to be in Washington, or perhaps the world. The president looks forward to welcoming top business, political, and tech leaders for this dinner and the many dinners to come on the new, beautiful Rose Garden patio,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.
was first to report on the president’s plans.
The president told aides weeks ago that he wanted to have a big Rose Garden debut on a clear, beautiful day.
The Rose Garden has been stripped of its grass and paved over with stone, an attempt to replicate the patio at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump dines al fresco during his weekends away from Washington.
The president made frequent check-ins this summer with the orange-shirted workers tearing out the grass and reinforcing the ground underneath, at one point inviting them into the Oval Office for a photo. Presidential seals have been embedded into the stone, and the drainage grates are styled like American flags.
In recent days, CNN has seen new lighting being installed and tested on the roof of the West Wing aimed towards the Rose Garden.
There has also been a steady playlist of music coming from the Rose Garden, piping through new speakers that have been installed.
Recent selections have included Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman” as well as Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and The Beatles’ “In My Life.”
CNN’s Betsy Klein, Kaitlan Collins and Alayna Treene contributed to this report.