Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) stated on Thursday that he is against former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin getting involved in buying TikTok, as a bill that would require the app’s parent company to sell its share or else be banned in the U.S. is gaining traction.
At Semafor’s World Economy Summit, Wyden expressed his positive view on the concept of American firms buying shares and similar ideas.
However, he added that he is against Steve Mnuchin participating in the purchase due to his ability to access classified information and his connections with hostile states, especially Arab ones.
Mnuchin mentioned last month that he was assembling a group to purchase TikTok. group to buy TikTok shortly after the House passed legislation that would require ByteDance, the app’s China-based parent company, to sell its shares within about six months or else face a ban on U.S. app stores and web hosting services.
However, Wyden has previously voiced concerns about Mnuchin’s ties to Saudi Arabia through his investment fund.
According to reporting from The New York Times in 2022, the former Treasury secretary’s fund, Liberty Strategic Capital, had secured a $1 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, as well as $500 million commitments from the Emiratis, Kuwaitis and Qataris.
“I don’t see how America will be any more secure if the next owner of TikTok is a MAGA Trump crony backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund,” Wyden said last month.
“I’m absolutely concerned about the Chinese government’s access to Americans’ personal data,” he added. “But every concern that has been voiced about Chinese influence is equally valid when it comes to a Saudi government that murdered a Washington Post journalist after planting spyware on his wife’s phone.”
Wyden’s latest comments on a potential TikTok sale come after Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) came out in support of the legislation on Wednesday. Cantwell, whose support was key to clearing a path for the bill to proceed in the Senate, backed the legislation after it was updated to extend the period of time for a sale.
