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Apple CEO Tim Cook was on Hillary’s list of VP candidates

Published Oct 18th, 2016 11:29AM EDT
BGR

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A hacked email from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta’s email reveals that as well as the usual sampling of politicians, Hillary was considering tech businesspeople like Tim Cook and Bill Gates for the other spot on her ticket.

Cook was on a list of 39 potential candidates, the “first cut” of potential VPs. The list was sent in an email from Podesta to Clinton on March 17th.

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The list was split into groups, featuring politicians you’ve probably heard of — Tim Kaine, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders (!) and outsiders, like Cook, Michael Bloomberg and both Bill and Melinda Gates.

Clinton ended up going with the most middle-of-the-road politician she could find in Tim Kaine, but it would have been interesting to see if Tim Cook would have accepted the offer. Sure, he doesn’t have any political experience, but his track record of running the world’s most valuable brand, negotiating trade deals with China and studiously minimizing taxes offers an obvious allure for this campaign.

Plus, an out gay business leader combining with the first female nominee to run for the White House would have been quite the coup. It’s less clear how Apple’s shareholders would see the move, of course.

The full email, via Wikileaks, is below.

Chris Mills
Chris Mills News Editor

Chris Mills has been a news editor and writer for over 15 years, starting at Future Publishing, Gawker Media, and then BGR. He studied at McGill University in Quebec, Canada.