Reporters from CNN aren’t allowed in to the White House’s state dinner Thursday for China’s president Xi Jinping, but the news outlet’s soon-to-be owner will be breaking bread with Xi and Donald Trump, along with a gaggle of tech bosses.
Striving to get a settlement in Paramount‘s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery approved by a federal judge, CEO David Ellison is among the invited guests to tonight’s superpower sit-down. A past donor to Democrats, the son of Oracle founder and close Trump ally Larry Ellison has become close to the MAGA administration in his pursuit of Paramount last year and more recently WBD. That closeness to Trump has proved a major concern to opponents of the ParaBros mega-deal, especially when it comes to the Bari Weiss-run CBS News and, down the line, CNN.
From left: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman
Getty Images
The tech-leaning Ellison will be among a band of brothers with Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, TikTok’s Jeff Yass, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella at tonight’s White House event. Along with the titans of traditional industry Trump loves to surround himself with like Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Dell’s Michael Dell, Apple’s former CEO Tim Cook and Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos will be partaking of the three-course meal.
Chinese officials, White House senior staff, Cabinet members, Trump offspring, congressional GOP leaders and several members of the Supreme Court also are in attendance. Equally unsurprisingly, Fox News‘ Jesse Watters, Laura Ingraham (called an “American television presenter”) and Bret Baier are on the state dinner guest list with their respective spouses.
Banned from the White House by Trump last week, CNN, MS Now and Politico took the administration to court, where Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the outlets be re-credentialed — which they were for a while today and then tonight they were not.
With Trump TV now launched online, the saga continues.
Below is the official guest list for tonight’s state dinner:
President Donald J. Trump
First Lady Melania Trump
President Xi Jinping
Madame Peng Liyuan
Vice President JD Vance
Second Lady Usha Vance
Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Jeanette Rubio, Spouse of the Secretary of State
Chief of Staff Susie Wiles
U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue
Bonnie Perdue, Spouse of the US Ambassador to China
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent
John Freeman, Spouse of the Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth
Ambassador Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative
Marlo Greer, Spouse of Ambassador Greer
Cai Qi, CPC Political Bureau Standing Committee Member, Chief of Staff to President Xi
Wang Yi, CPC Political Bureau Central Committee Member
He Lifeng, CPC Political Bureau Central Committee, Vice Premier of State Council
Zheng Shanjie, Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission
Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce
Ma Zhaoxu, Executive Vice Foreign Minister
Ambassador Xie Feng, Chinese Ambassador to the United States
Ms. Ivanka Trump
Mr. Eric Trump
Ms. Lara Trump
Ms. Tiffany Trump
Mr. Michael Boulos
Mr. Viktor Knavs
Ms. Arabella Kushner
Jensen Huang, NVIDIA, CEO
Lori Huang, Spouse of Jensen Huang
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, CEO
Dr. Lisa Su, Advanced Micro Devices, CEO
Daniel Lin, Spouse of Lisa Su
Tim Cook, Chairman of the Board of Apple
John F.W. Rogers, Goldman Sachs EVP and Secretary to the Board
Lynn Martin, President of the NYSE
Linda Mills, President of New York University
Eric Yuan, Zoom, CEO
Tang Fangyu Director, Central Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee
Minister of Finance Mr. Lan Fo’an
Mme. Wang Dan, Wife of Ambassador Xie Feng
Zhou Hongxu Deputy Director, General Office of the CPC Central Committee Director, Central Security Bureau
Lyu Luhua, Secretary to the President
Hong Lei, Assistant Foreign Minister Director General, Protocol Department
Cai Wei, Assistant Foreign Minister Director General, Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs
Mao Ning, Director General, Department of Press, Communication and Public Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Zhang Quan, Secretary to Madame Peng
Zhang Yongchao, Deputy Director General, Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Kelly Ortberg, Boeing, CEO
Larry Fink, Blackrock, CEO
Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone, CEO
Sam Altman, OpenAI, CEO
Greg Brockman, OpenAI, President & Co-Founder
Anna Brockman, Wife of Greg Brockman
Dr. Miriam Adelson, Las Vegas Sand, Controlling Shareholder
Sergey Brin, Google/Alphabet, Co-Founder
Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, Partner of Sergey Brin
Satya Nadella, Microsoft, Chairman & CEO
Jim Taiclet, Lockheed Martin, Chairman, President & CEO
Sundar Pichai, Google, CEO
Larry Culp, GE Aerospace, CEO
Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron, CEO
Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm, CEO
Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Chairman
Lauren Sanchez-Bezos, Spouse of Jeff Bezos
Jeff Yass, TikTok
Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan, CEO
Michael Dell, Dell, CEO
Mary Barra, General Motors, CEO
David Solomon, Goldman Sachs, CEO
Jane Fraser, Citi, CEO
Elon Musk, SpaceX & Tesla, CEO
Darren Woods, ExxonMobil, CEO
Chief Justice John Roberts, Chief Supreme Court Justice
Jane Sullivan Roberts, Chief Supreme Court Justice Spouse
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Supreme Court Justice
Jesse Barrett, Supreme Court Justice Spouse
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Supreme Court Justice
Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, Spouse of Supreme Court Justice
Speaker Mike Johnson, United States House of Representatives, Louisiana
Kelly Johnson, Spouse of Speaker Mike Johnson
Bret Baier, FOX News, American Journalist and Host
Amy Baier, Spouse of Brett Baier
Laura Ingraham, FOX News, American Television Presenter
Representative Richard McCormick, United States House of Representatives, Georgia
Jesse Watters, FOX News Host
Emma Watters, Spouse of Jesse Waters
David Ellison, Paramount Skydance, CEO
Susan Dell, Spouse to Michael Dell
Kevin Warsh, Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Jane Lauder, Spouse to Kevin Warsh
Secretary Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce
Allison Lutnick, Spouse to Secretary Lutnick
Director John Ratcliffe, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Michelle Ratcliffe, Spouse to Director Ratcliffe
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, U.S. Special Envoy to Middle East
Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor, Assistant to the President
Katie Miller, Spouse of Stephen Miller
Dan Scavino, Deputy Chief of Staff, Assistant to the President
Erin Scavino, Spouse to Dan Scavino
Attorney General Todd Blanche, Attorney General of the United States
Kristine Blanche, Spouse to Attorney General Todd Blanche
Meredith O’Rourke, The O’Rourke Group
Secretary Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Secretary of Health & Human Services
Secretary Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education
Secretary Doug Burgum, Secretary of Interior
Kathryn Burgum, Spouse to Secretary Burgum
Secretary Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation
Rachel Campos-Duffy, Spouse of Sean Duffy
Director Russell Vought, Director of Office of Management & Budget
Administrator Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Acting Secretary Keith Sonderling, Acting Secretary of Labor
Brad Gerstner, Altimeter, CEO
Sangeeta Mehrota, Spouse of Sanjay Mehrotra
Anthony Barra, Spouse of Mary Barra
Kathy Woods, Spouse of Darren Woods
Albert Bourla, Pfizer, CEO
David Sacks, Co-chair, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Small Business Administrator
Jeff Sprecher, Spouse of Kelly Loeffler
Katie Simpson, Fiancé to Brad Gerstner
Representative Jason Smith, United States House of Representatives, Missouri
Senator Steven Daines, United States Senator, Montana
General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Director Jay Clayton, Director of Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Bernard Arnault, LVMH, CEO
Alexandre Arnault, Son of Bernard Arnault
Ryan McInerey, Visa, CEO
Michael Miebach, Mastercard, CEO
Sandra Lynn Ellison, Spouse of David Ellison
Cheryl Hines, Spouse of Secretary Kennedy