Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Donald Trump meeting 'like drinking a bottle of gin then waterboarding yourself', says ex-Twitter chief Dick Costolo

President planning a second summit with technology leaders, according to reports

Jon Sharman
Monday 12 June 2017 16:32 BST
Comments
President Donald Trump arrives at Newark International airport in New Jersey, to spend a weekend at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster
President Donald Trump arrives at Newark International airport in New Jersey, to spend a weekend at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Meeting with Donald Trump to discuss technology is like drinking a whole bottle of gin and then being waterboarded, Twitter's former chief executive has claimed.

Mr Trump is reportedly planning to hold a second summit with leaders in the sector, plus venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, following an initial such encounter last December.

Dick Costolo, who headed Twitter between 2010 and 2015, tweeted: "If you don't get invited to this meeting and want to know what it was like, just drink a bottle of gin and then waterboard yourself."

Mr Trump has challenged leaders in the field over hiring, immigration and manufacturing in the past as a result of his "America first" policy.

And when he pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord earlier this month, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk stepped down from his advisory committee role in protest.

A number of Silicon Valley leaders spoke out against the withdrawal.

Mr Trump was criticised for allowing his children Ivanka, Don Jr and Eric to sit in on the first meeting, which took place before his inauguration.

It was attended by a who's-who of industry figures including Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, Apple's Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella and Larry Page, of Google's parent company Alphabet.

The meeting had been chaired and organised by billionaire investor and Facebook board member Peter Thiel, as well as Mr Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Ivanka Trump and Mr Kushner are now White House advisers, while Mr Trump's sons run the family business.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in