White House invites Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos to state dinner despite DOJ lawsuits against Apple, Amazon

The White House’s state dinner on Wednesday included a list of bigwigs in business, sports, politics and entertainment. 

Among the list of attendees was Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Their attendance was notable, given that both Amazon and Apple have been the subject of lawsuits from the federal government. 

Last month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Apple over allegations of violating antitrust law, targeting the tech giant’s grip on the smartphone market. 

The lawsuit alleges that Apple has blocked innovative apps, suppressed mobile cloud streaming services, excluded cross-platform messaging apps, diminished functionality of non-Apple smartwatches and limited third-party digital wallets. 

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Amazon, meanwhile, was sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in September over alleged abuse of power to drive up prices for customers, degrade service and stifle competition. 

Given this, it was not clear why Bezos or Cook would attend the White House’s state dinner. FOX Business has reached out to Amazon and Apple for comment. 

A reporter posed the question to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday, asking why the execs would be invited to the state dinner despite the administration accusing both Amazon and Apple of "anti-competitive behavior." 

"We invite an array of folks to come," Jean-Pierre said. "It’s an important night, especially when another country comes, and shows bipartisanship." 

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The reporter noted that the DOJ, less than a month ago, accused Apple of using "its control over the iPhone to engage in a broad, sustained and illegal course of conduct, saying that the lawsuit should send a strong signal to other companies." 

"What signal is the White House sending?" she asked. 

Jean-Pierre noted that those cases have been spearheaded by the DOJ, not the White House. She did not comment on whether President Biden believed these companies had done anything wrong. 

"We invite a diverse group of people when it comes to events, not just state dinners, when it comes to events here for even different sides of the aisle," Jean-Pierre said. "That's what… that's what this president has done. I can't speak to what DOJ in their legal action, I just can't speak to that from here."

FOX Business has reached out to the DOJ for comment but did not hear back before publication. 

The White House declined to comment on specific cases but argued that Biden, "broadly speking" has been the most "pro-competition president in decades." 

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"[President Biden] strongly supports fairly and robustly enforcing the antitrust laws, including with respect to the dominant Internet platforms," the White House said. 

"The President’s Competition Executive Order specifically calls out the rise of Big Tech and he recently launched a Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing to ensure accountability when companies break the law and keep prices high. Nothing about that approach has or will change."