Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says There Are “security issues” Around “Musk’s absolute dependence on the Communist Party of China”

See below for video of today’s “press availability” by Sen. Mark Warner. He had some interesting things to say, including:

• “In terms of Virginia, the most important item is, the House is taking up today the Defense Authorization Bill; this is a bill that’s been passed every year for 63 days…looks like we’re going to get it done again this year.”
• On the “Omnibus” spending bill, Sen. Warner said “it’s still a bit of a jump ball,” and if we don’t get it, we’ll get a “continuing resolution,” which would be “the worst thing in the world for taxpayers and for our military.”
• On the trade for Brittney Griner, Sen. Warner said “Putin’s regime is barbaric…and while I’m happy that Brittney’s coming home, there are other Americans like Paul Whelan that we still have to bring home from Russia as well.” Sen. Warner added that “this arm’s dealer is a bad guy,” but Griner was clearly “being held hostage” by Putin’s “despotic regime,” was already “sent to a penal colony,” etc. So he’s not going to “second guess” the Biden administration on this.
• Regarding attacks on the power grid in North Carolina, Sen. Warner said it “raises a couple questions,” including the “question of resiliency” in the power grid.
• Sen. Warner spoke about the funeral for Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA04), and said “I think Donald would have been very proud of the showing of affection” at the funeral.
• Sen. Warner said this has been the “most productive two years since I’ve been in Congress…so the notion that we’re all up here at each other’s throats all the time just isn’t the case.” And, Sen. Warner added, there’s still potential for more legislation, including the Electoral Count Act and “outside hope” for immigration reform.
• Sen. Warner said he believes the “vast majority of members in both the House and the Senate, Democratic or Republican, are in favor of continued support to Ukraine,” although “Kevin McCarthy has had to jump through all kinds of hoops to keep his right wing at bay.” “I think we need to stand with Ukraine.”
• On a provision in the NDAA about rolling back COVID19 vaccines for the troops, Sen. Warner said he hopes this doesn’t cause President Biden to veto the bill, but he continues to be “disappointed with the kind of anti-science screech that comes from some of these House Republicans,” but it’s a “tradeoff”/the “sausage making” of legislation. Sen. Warner encouraged everyone to get their COVID19 booster.
• On the Respect for Marriage Act’s passage, Sen. Warner said that’s good news, but Virginia also needs to get rid of its constitutional prohibition against same-sex marriage, adding that the “vast majority of Virginians” would support doing that.
• On Twitter, Sen. Warner said: “My concern with Mr. Musk’s ownership of Twitter really has less to do with whether he puts Donald Trump back on or not…I am concerned that Mr. Musk seems to be allowing racists and anti-Semites back on Twitter…I am concerned, and I think there are security issues that need to be raised, about Mr. Musk’s absolute dependence on the Communist Party of China. You know, all those Teslas, which is the vast majority of his fortune, they get all their batteries from China, that is oftentimes made with Uyghur labor that’s treated horribly. If you look at what Mr. Musk has said about the Communist Party’s regulatory regime, or his good comments about the Communist Party’s organization…about President Xi, that worries me when he says good things about CCP but then trashes American regulators. Mr. Musk is a brilliant guy…but it is more than concerning that he seems to be willing to kind of kiss up to the Communist Party leadership and yet is so disdainful of regulators in America or Europe or elsewhere around the world.”
• Sen. Warner said he has “two concerns on TikTok,” one being the fact that TikTok “absorbs so much information, disproportionately from young people (our eye movements, our keystrokes)” and that “it’s the Communist Party of China potentially collecting this information”; and also that TikTok is a “communications network…as long as these algorithms are being written by Chinese engineers in Beijing, they could turn the dial…as more and more kids get their news from TikTok, you could end up becoming victims of frankly what is Communist Party propaganda.”