Apple isn't losing its Trump whisperer

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been a constant sight in President Donald Trump's Washington.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Tim Cook is no longer leading Apple.

He's not going far.

Cook will remain as executive chairman of the Apple board of directors.

In its announcement, Apple said Cook would continue engaging "policymakers around the world." Tim Cook 's tenure as CEO is over.

Apple still has an important job for him.

On Tuesday, John Ternus took over from Cook as CEO.

Following Apple's previously announced succession plan, Cook is now executive chairman of Apple's board of directors .

Cook, the man President Donald Trump unintentionally called "Tim Apple" in 2019, will now engage "with policymakers around the world," the tech company previously said.

He's had plenty of experience with that, particularly in an increasingly mercurial Washington, where a tech company can go from a vital partner to a national security threat in a matter of weeks ( just ask Anthropic ).

Under Cook's leadership, Apple lavished Trump with gifts, including a special inscribed piece of glass with 24-karat gold base and a custom-made $5,999 Mac Pro.

Cook personally donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration, and Apple donated an unknown amount toward the construction of the White House ballroom, which will replace the now-demolished East Wing.

Trump praised Cook after Apple announced the succession plan.

"I have always been a big fan of Tim Cook, and likewise, Steve Jobs, but 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 on Truth Social on April 21.