Apple refrains from supporting the upcoming Republican Party Convention, but CEO Tim Cook will back Paul Ryan, the Republican House Speaker.
This shows that Apple wants to keep some established Republicans close, in spite of being at odds with the party's GOP nominee, Donald Trump.
Politico was the first to catch word of Cook's plans.
"Cook will help generate cash for Ryan at a private breakfast on June 28," Politico reports.
The fundraising will take place in Menlo Park, California. Apple's treasurer, Gary Wipfler, will be one of the attendees. The raised money will not be directed to the speaker alone. In effect, a joint fundraising committee will use the financing to elect other House Republicans.
According to Politico's report, Cook will be the chairman of the fundraising. This is because Apple does not sport a political action committee, an entity present in other Silicon Valley companies such as Google or Facebook.
Some may find Cook's support of the Republican Party surprising. The CEO's public statements have positioned him as a progressive person who finds high value in social and equality issues. However, these might be the exact reasons why he is backing Ryan, who also denounced a number of Trump's preposterous statements.
Apple has always been in good relations with some Republican leaders, some of which even backed policies favorable to the OEM. The report points out that Rob Portman, the Republican Senator who favors Apple-friendly policies got wind in his sails via a similar fundraising event.
Apple was under fire earlier this year after it refused to provide the FBI with a decryption tool for the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. Representatives from both major U.S. parties urged Apple to take a step back from its privacy policies for "the greater good" of national security, but the company dug its heels in the ground.
Trump directly attacked Apple after the incident and called for a boycott against the company.
Additional reports show that Cook has set his mind to stop Trump from winning the upcoming November election. The Apple leader purportedly met with other CEOs from the industry to ensure that Trump's chances of winning the presidential seat are as low as possible.
As a reminder, the Republican Party is the dominant political force in both the House and Senate in the U.S. Congress. What is more, out of the 50 governors in the U.S., 31 are Republican.
Neither Apple nor Ryan's office commented on Politico's report.
