THE IN CROWD

Tim Cook, Rupert Murdoch Among Big Names at Trump’s First State Dinner

While Cabinet members including Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke, Jeff Sessions, and Nikki Haley were absent.

President Trump’s first state dinner on Tuesday night was full of corporate bigwigs like Apple CEO Tim Cook, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, but many of his own Cabinet members were missing. Billionaire Henry Kravis and Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman made the cut, as did Olympic curler John Shuster and women’s ice hockey Olympic champion Meghan Duggan. Democratic members of Congress were apparently left out of the event, with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards the only Democrat in attendance. Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley were reportedly nowhere to be seen. Toiling away in the White House kitchen, however, was one official who’d asked to stick around for the state dinner despite resigning earlier this month. Michael Anton, a member of the National Security Council who also happens to be a classically trained chef fond of French cuisine, was one of 15 chefs preparing the food for French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, on Tuesday—Anton’s final request before he bid the White House farewell.