President Donald Trump hosted a dinner with some of the most powerful figures in Silicon Valley on Thursday night, but kept his hands almost entirely beneath the table while the cameras were rolling.
For someone whose enthusiastic hand gestures are a well-known trademark, it was an uncharacteristic sight.
Seated beside Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg at the White House, Trump kept his hands folded and out of sight while cameras were allowed in the room. The event in the State Dining Room was billed as closed to the press, but a camera was allowed to broadcast live for around 20 minutes.
For almost the entire time he was on camera, Trump kept his hands out of view. They popped up a few times to point to a speaker or briefly come to rest on the table but then quickly disappeared back below the table line.
His reticence to gesticulate comes after media speculation about a recurring bruise on his right hand. That was joined by an apparent bruise on his left hand last month. His bruises are usually slathered in makeup ahead of public appearances.
Amid questions over his health relating to his bruised hands and swollen ankles, the White House has seemingly come up with a range of ways to hide his afflictions from view. Earlier this week, Trump placed his hands behind a strategically placed “Gulf of America” hat. Last week, official photographs of Trump’s meeting with the South Korean president were cropped so as not to include his cankles.
After initially denying any health issues, the White House admitted in July that the president had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common blood flow issue for people over 70.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last weekend, social media was engulfed by ludicrous rumors that the presdident had died, which Trump referenced himself at the dinner.
“I want to thank the media—they’ve been very nice lately. Although, I’m still here,” he said, garnering a huge laugh from the tech titans gathered around him.
“They made a couple of bad predictions. That wasn’t good. I’ve never had that feeling before. I went to an event and people were coming up to me saying, ‘You’re still here.’ And I thought, what do they mean by that? I hadn’t heard about this. Anyway, the press has been great in terms of this industry, and they understand the importance of it.”
Microsoft founder Bill Gates sat next to First Lady Melania Trump, who was directly to her husband’s left, while Apple CEO Tim Cook and OpenAI chief Sam Altman joined the high-profile guest list.
The dinner was billed as part of the administration’s outreach on artificial intelligence, with executives trading views and lining up to praise Trump.
I was invited, but unfortunately could not attend. A representative of mine will be there.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2025
The White House has promoted AI as central to U.S. economic growth and defense, and Trump has signed executive orders directing federal agencies to explore its use.
Conspicuously absent from the tech mogul gathering was Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. “I was invited, but unfortunately, I could not attend,” Musk said on X before the event. ”A representative of mine will be there.”
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