Apple CEO Tim Cook once gave President Trump a $5,999 Mac Pro
In a new financial document released just hours after he left the White House, former President Donald Trump disclosed Apple CEO Tim Cook once gave him a $5,999 Mac Pro computer.
The documents, made public on Wednesday, list the item as “the first created at the Flex Factory in Austin, Texas.”
Apple did not respond to a request for comment on whether it was the first Mac Pro computer out of the factory, but the timing seems unlikely. The factory opened in 2013. It could, however, be the first 2019 model to come out of the facility.
The Mac Pro gift likely stems from a November 2019 factory visit to highlight American jobs at the Flex Ltd. manufacturing facility that makes Apple products. Controversy followed the meeting, as Trump implied the factory was new for Apple under his leadership, which is was not.
“We’re seeing the beginning of a very powerful and important plant,” Trump said at the time. “Anybody that followed my campaign, I would always talk about Apple, that I want to see Apple building plants in the United States. And that’s what’s happening.”
It’s possible he got it confused with Apple’s new $1 billion Austin campus that it broke ground on the same day.
Also listed on the disclosure is a $529 leather bomber jacket from Ford chairman Bill Ford, $650 Ultimate Championship belt from martial artist professional Colby Covington, and golf clubs and accessories from Derek Sprague, former president of the PGA of America. (The disclosure listed Sprague as president of the US Golf Association.)
The disclosure also revealed that Trump’s hotels and golf clubs took a hit last year due to the global pandemic. Trump’s businesses generated nearly 40% less revenue in 2020 and the first 20 days of this year compared to 2019.
While it’s common for presidents to receive gifts, there are rules and regulations around what they can accept.
While the Mac Pro is a costly gift, it’s the baseline cost of the current 2020 model. That’s before you factor in a $999 Pro stand and other bells and whistles like $5,999 for a 32-inch Pro Display XDR with Retina 6K display and $25,000 for 1.5 TB of memory. All in, a Mac Pro can cost up to $62,571.
Cook and Trump had cultivated an unlikely relationship during Trump’s presidency, from dinners to appearing with Ivanka Trump to promote education. After Trump famously called Cook “Tim Apple” at a White House event, the CEO changed his name to that on Twitter.
But the pair also bumped heads over the years, including when Trump injected himself into a fight between the Justice Department and Apple over the security protections on iPhones used by the gunman who killed three people on a US naval base in Pensacola, Fla. Cook has also spoken out against Trump’s immigration policies.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the financial impact of the pandemic on Donald Trump’s businesses revealed by his financial disclosure. The revenue for these businesses has fallen by nearly 40%.
