The president claimed in a Truth Social post that the Apple CEO had once called him to ask for help with a "fairly large" issue that only he could fix
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NEED TO KNOW
- On Monday, April 20, Tim Cook announced he will step down as Apple CEO on Sept. 1
- President Donald Trump responded to the news on Tuesday, April 21, by praising Cook’s leadership
- Trump also claimed that Cook requested his assistance on a problem that “only” the president could resolve
President Donald Trump is reacting to Tim Cook's departure from Apple.
On Monday, April 20, Cook announced that he will be stepping down from serving as the company's CEO on Sept. 1 and will become the executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. John Ternus will take over as the company's CEO.
On Tuesday, April 21, the president shared his reaction to the tech news in a Truth Social post. He praised Cook, 65, and recalled the beginning of their “long and very nice relationship.”
Trump, 79, claimed that, during his first term, Cook called him to ask for help with “a fairly large problem, that only I, as President, could fix.”
The president wrote that when he initially took Cook's call, he “was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to ‘kiss my ass.' ”
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Trump continued, saying that Cook had a “tough” problem, but did not disclose the nature of the issue.
“I felt he was right and got it taken care of, quickly and effectively. That was the beginning of a long and very nice relationship,” Trump wrote.
As his post continued, Trump said Cook called him during his time as president, “but never too much.”
“I would help him where I could,” he wrote. “Years later, after 3 or 4 BIG HELPS, I started to say to people, anyone who would listen, that this guy is an amazing manager and leader.”
“He makes these calls to me, I help him out (but not always, because he will, on occasion, be too aggressive in his ask!), and he gets the job done, QUICKLY, without a dime being given to those very expensive (millions of dollars!) consultants around town who sometimes get it done, and sometimes don't," Trump's post continued.
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In the post, Trump called himself a “big fan” of Cook and praised the CEO's career, comparing Cook to the late Apple co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs. “If Steve was not taken from the Planet Earth so young, and ran the company instead of Tim, the company would have done well, but nowhere near as well as it has under Tim,” Trump wrote.
After Trump recalled Cook's calls throughout the years, he concluded the post by writing, “Tim Cook had an AMAZING career, almost incomparable, and will go on and continue to do great work for Apple, and whatever else he chooses to work on. Quite simply, Tim Cook is an incredible guy!!!”
Trump's praise follows Cook's response to backlash over their relationship. Cook, who attended Trump's second inauguration, personally donated $1 million to fund the event. In the months that followed, Cook attended a September 2025 White House dinner for top executives from American tech companies.
There, Cook said he appreciated the administration's work "helping companies around the world," which he called a "very key, key thing" that he's enjoyed helping Trump with.
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He later attended a screening of Melania Trump's documentary at the White House in January 2026.
Cook later said he's more interested in “policy, not politics” during the March 17 episode of Good Morning America. "What I do is I interact on policy, not politics. I'm not a political person on either side. I'm not political," Cook explained. "And so I'm kind of straight down the middle. And I focus on policy, so I'm very pleased that the president and the administration is accessible to talk about policy."
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