'I won't cozy up to Facebook': Warren calls out Zuckerberg for Trump dinner amid antitrust scrutiny

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and 2020 presidential candidate (L), and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook.

Bridgett Bennet | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., took another swipe at Mark Zuckerberg, accusing the Facebook CEO of going on a "charm offensive" with Republican lawmakers, including attending an undisclosed dinner with President Donald Trump and Facebook board member Peter Thiel.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Warren added she wouldn't "cozy up to Facebook" if she's elected president, noting that the dinner with Trump and Thiel is a symptom of the broader corruption she argues is systemic in Washington, D.C.

"This is how the government keeps working for giant corporations and the wealthy and well-connected," Warren said. "It's no wonder that companies like Facebook have been allowed to consolidate economic and political power without any real accountability."

Warren's comments follow an NBC News report which detailed the meeting between Zuckerberg, Trump and Thiel. The dinner took place in October, when Zuckerberg delivered a speech at Georgetown University and appeared on Capitol Hill to testify about Facebook's cryptocurrency project, libra. Trump previously met with Zuckerberg in September, when he made a surprise visit to the White House.

Zuckerberg has been meeting with lawmakers more frequently in recent months, as Facebook faces looming antitrust regulations. Several probes have been launched against Facebook, including a New York-led antitrust investigation, an antitrust probe launched by the FTC and a separate probe by the DOJ.

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