One Democratic senator is making calls for answers on Donald Trump’s reported $10 billion TikTok fee while questioning if his focus is on investors over national security.
On Wednesday, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia sketched out what he considered to be “serious concerns” with the $10 billion fee in a letter written to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The senator was curious about a few key details: how the $10 billion figure was decided upon, as well as Trump’s involvement and his planned use of the funds.
“This arrangement, if true, would continue a pattern set by the Trump administration of exercising the power and authority of the government to benefit certain companies and individuals close to the president, and to extract financial concessions as a condition of doing so,” Warner wrote.
He added: “The opaque, uncompetitive and ad hoc process surrounding this government-brokered sale, with numerous clear conflicts of interest, has no analogue in modern American history.”
Last week, it was reported by both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times that the Trump administration was set to pocket around $10 billion for brokering the recently completed TikTok deal, which helped keep the social media app active in the U.S.
The Trump administration has defended the fee, saying it is justified given the president’s role in keeping TikTok in the U.S., including combatting lawmakers’ concerns over the deal and overseeing negotiations with China, according to the Wall Street Journal.
ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent, finalized a January deal to create a majority American venture to manage the app’s U.S. data, sidestepping a ban that would affect hundreds of millions of users.
The new venture, named TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, is made up of investors like Oracle, MGX and Silver Lake, among others, who previously paid $2.5 billion to the Treasury Department following the deal’s closure in January. However, it’s said the investors will continue to make additional payments up to $10 billion.
