Agreed, but that assumes: 1) that he has the power to do so 2) that Mitchell and Gebru want to join Apple

At the moment, we don't know either of these assumptions.

I am assuming that he is joining as a manager, so he can bring candidates in for hiring. Also, surely whatever triggered his Google exit must not be an issue at Apple, since he decided to join there. That should be good enough for the two folks that you mention, no ?

And 3) he is interested in hiring them.

And it would be hypocritical of the fired parties to join a place as restrictive (and oppressive?) as Apple. Not to mentioned the garden, the wall etc.