(The White House)

The Oval Office is getting even more shiny and gold

Donald Trump has always been a fan of gold and is bringing that interior design preference to the White House in a bigly way.

Jon Keegan

7/11/25 1:31PM

Back in April, shortly after President Trump declared his “Liberation Day” tariffs, which imposed 145% levies on goods imported from China, we noticed some decorative gold “cartouches” slapped on the walls of the Oval Office, highly concentrated around the fireplace, which Trump is increasingly using as a backdrop for his interactions with world leaders.

Intrigued by origins of these arbitrary decorative flourishes, we located some “High-density Home Decoration Polyurethane Appliques Ornament PU Foam Veneer Accessories” on Alibaba that looked very similar, though they’re not a perfect match.

Readers sent along some other possible listings that the White House may have sourced its bling from, and several other news outlets wrote about the new splashes of gold, including The Wall Street Journal, which said Trump had a “gold guy” from Florida whom he flew up to DC in Air Force One to redecorate the Oval. Maybe he gets his cartouches on Alibaba?

Since writing that story, I’ve been kind of obsessed with the White House’s official Flickr feed (yeah, kind of a throwback), looking for signs of new gold on the walls of the Oval Office.

Yesterday, I was looking at a new photo uploaded on July 9 featuring Trump sitting with President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani of Mauritania in front of the fireplace, and wouldn’t you know it? THERE’S MORE GOLD.

It seems the mantle has been reconfigured with nine ornate vessels and a new fancy clock in the middle. This left a little space under the George Washington portrait for a bit more gold, so another cartouche was squeezed in. But there’s more! Two more of the same cartouches were added below the portraits of Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, and James K. Polk, the 11th president. Another two were slapped on either side of the marble fireplace.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon during a cabinet meeting, The Washington Post reported that Trump veered off from the agenda to talk about his redecoration efforts, saying, “I love the frame of those pictures. Look at those frames. You know, I’m a frame person. Sometimes I like frames more than I like the pictures.” It seems the Cabinet Room is next up for a gilded transformation now that he’s made a few more changes to the Oval Office.

The fireplace has undergone a complete blingification, an explosion of gold leaf details and new appliqués. Two more on either side of the grandfather clock bring the total to seven visible in this photo.

Back in June, it seemed there wasn’t much empty space for more gold.

After staring at so much bling, it’s easy to forget how simple and sparse the Oval Office once was. This photo of President Biden greeting President-elect Trump has only a few gilded picture frames.

Jon Keegan11/28/25

European regulators will examine if Apple’s maps and ads businesses require stricter oversight

Apple has notified European regulators that its Apple Maps and Apple Ads platforms meet the threshold to be called “gatekeepers” under the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act, the European Commission said.

European antitrust regulators will now examine if the tech giant’s Maps and Ads units should be subject to stricter regulation. According to the DMA, when a platform reaches 45 million monthly active users and a market cap of €75 billion ($79 billion), it triggers the “gatekeeper” designation and additional rules apply.

While Apple notified regulators that the threshold has been met, it is pushing back on the designation, saying in a rebuttal to rule makers that the platforms are actually relatively small compared to the competition in Europe and should be excluded. The EC has 45 working days to make a final determination about the designation, and Apple would have six months to comply, Reuters reported.

EU to examine if Apple Ads and Maps subject to tough rules, Apple says no

Jon Keegan11/26/25

Delhi High Court says Apple could face $38 billion penalty in Indian antitrust case

India’s Delhi High Court says that Apple could face a penalty as high as $38 billion for what its investigators describe as “abusive conduct” related to the tech giant’s app store, Reuters reports.

Apple is challenging the constitutionality of the country’s new antitrust law, taking specific issue with the fact that penalties are calculated based on companies’ total annual global revenue, rather than just revenue derived from India.

That global figure could mean fines as high as $38 billion, according to a court filing seen by Reuters.

The Competition Commission of India has not issued a final ruling in the case.

Apple contests India's antitrust penalty law with risk of $38 billion fine, filing shows

That global figure could mean fines as high as $38 billion, according to a court filing seen by Reuters.

The Competition Commission of India has not issued a final ruling in the case.

Jon Keegan11/26/25

Anthropic CEO Amodei asked to testify before Congress about Claude-powered Chinese cyberattack, Axios reports

Earlier this month, Anthropic revealed that Chinese state actors had used its Claude chatbot to orchestrate and execute a cyber espionage campaign for the first time. The company said that after it detected its product was being used in that manner, it was able to respond and disrupt malicious behavior.

Now, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has been called to testify before the House Committee on Homeland Security, along with Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kuria and Quantum Xchange CEO Eddy Zervigon, Axios reports.

The House committee is seeking information about how nation-state actors are using AI agents to devise and execute novel cyberattacks, like the one that Anthropic disrupted.

Exclusive: Anthropic CEO called to testify before Congress about Chinese AI cyberattack

The House committee is seeking information about how nation-state actors are using AI agents to devise and execute novel cyberattacks, like the one that Anthropic disrupted.

Max Knoblauch11/21/25

Joby sues Archer, accusing its air taxi rival of stealing trade secrets

The rivalry between two much-hyped air taxi companies is heating up, as Joby Aviation has sued Archer Aviation, alleging the latter stole its trade secrets and used them to undercut a partnership deal in an act of “corporate espionage, planned and premeditated.”

Archer called the lawsuit “baseless litigation” without merit in a statement to CNBC.

The lawsuit alleges that this summer, Joby’s US state and local policy lead, George Kivork, was recruited by Archer. The company alleges that two days before announcing his resignation from Joby, Kivork downloaded “dozens” of files and sent additional material to his personal email account.

The following month, the lawsuit states that a strategic partner that had worked with Kivork while at Joby told the company it had been approached by Archer with a more lucrative deal.

Boeing’s air taxi subsidiary, Wisk, sued Archer in 2021, accusing the latter of “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property.

Archer and Joby are both racing to develop electric air taxis for use in commercial flight. Each has also struck deals with major defense contractors.

Joby lawsuit accuses air taxi rival Archer of using stolen information to 'one-up' deal