Biden-allied lawmaker’s charity scored cash from TikTok’s Chinese parent company before key vote
By
Gabe Kaminsky
March 26, 2024 3:00 am
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A foundation tied to a veteran House Democrat accepted checks from China’s ByteDance before he voted against a bill that would make the company divest from the popular social media app TikTok, records show.
Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) in March diverged from his ally President Joe Biden, who supports anti-TikTok legislation, in opposing the bipartisan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which may lead to TikTok being banned in the United States over national security concerns from lawmakers. Clyburn, who has personally received campaign donations from TikTok’s lobbying army, saw at least $40,000 in recent years flood into a nonprofit organization affiliated with him, according to congressional lobbying disclosures.
“We can’t say for a fact that his position is due to the money, but it’s perfectly reasonable to be concerned about financial incentives leading to political incentives,” said Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst and investigative researcher for the conservative Capital Research Center think tank. “Generally, it’s concerning how politicians often take positions they otherwise might not at the expense of the country they’re supposed to represent.”
The grants from ByteDance, of which China’s government in 2019 took a 1% stake and which has spied on American journalists, underscores the company’s sprawling influence as it stares down what could be the end of its ownership of TikTok. The anti-TikTok bill is bipartisan and faces an uncertain future in the Senate — though Biden has said he would sign the bill into law if it clears the upper chamber.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/2936678/biden-allied-lawmakers-charity-scored-cash-from-tiktok-parent-company/
