From Sen. Mark Warner’s office:
WARNER DEMANDS ANSWERS ON $10 BILLION TIKTOK DEAL
~ Questions surround legality, conflicts of interest, and potential risks in administration-brokered sale ~
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressing serious concerns about the reported $10 billion payment to the Treasury as part of the Trump administration-brokered sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations.
In his letter, Warner wrote, “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.”
The letter cites reporting from the Wall Street Journal that investors in the new TikTok deal – including Oracle, Silver Lake, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and other investors – have already paid $2.5 billion to the Treasury and will pay the remaining $7.5 billion in installments. Warner notes that the $10 billion figure represents roughly 71 percent of the new company’s publicly announced $14 billion valuation.
“Congress was addressing legitimate national security concerns when it passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in 2024, limiting the reach of TikTok in the United States. Under the law, the restriction of TikTok went into effect on January 19, 2025, and allowed for a single extension delaying the restriction if certain conditions were met,” Warner noted. “President Trump issued four illegal extensions in the year leading up to this acquisition. The manner in which the administration handled this process raises a fear that the administration prioritized securing the well-connected investors’ ownership of TikTok over national security. 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.”
“In order to help determine if the process under which this administration conducted, assisted, or otherwise facilitated the TikTok acquisition complied with the intent of Congress and the law,” Warner wrote, he is seeking full documentation and explanations from the Treasury Department.
Warner’s letter requests detailed documentation from the Treasury Department addressing five key areas, including: the legal authority for approving the sale, the basis for requesting $10 billion, how the amount was determined, any involvement of President Trump, and the intended use of the funds given the Anti-Deficiency Act’s prohibition on spending non-appropriated funds.
The full text of the letter is available here.
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