Trump met with a billionaire GOP donor with a huge stake in TikTok just days before he publicly tried to save the app
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
- On March 8, Trump spoke out against a bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok or be banned in the US
- During his time in the White House, he tried to ban the app but lost in the courts.
- Trump's change of heart came days after he met with a billionaire investor with 15% stake in TikTok.
Republican former President Donald Trump recently said he is against banning Tiktok, a reversal from his previous position. His comments came just days after meeting with a billionaire GOP donor with a large stake in the company.
On March 8, Trump argued on Truth Social, "If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business."
"I don't want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better," he said. "They are a true Enemy of the People!"
He echoed those comments on CNBC Monday morning.
Trump's statements on TikTok are a reversal of his previously established position on the video-sharing app's future. As president, he said the company should be sold, with some proceeds going to the US Treasury.
He made his change of heart on TikTok public after he met in February with Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, who has a 15% stake in TikTok's parent company ByteDance. According to Politico, Trump praised the investor at a Club for Growth retreat at the Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
In his interview with CNBC on Monday morning, Trump denied talking to Yass about TikTok.
"No, I didn't," Trump said, adding he only spoke with Yass briefly. "He never mentioned TikTok."
But The New York Times reported on Monday that a "person close to the campaign" said they expect Yass to make a "significant donation" to a Trump-aligned group.
Yass, who was a former professional gambler before co-founding the Susquehanna International Group trading firm, donated $10 million to the Republican-leaning Club for Growth in 2023 as the group searched for a replacement for Trump on the GOP ticket. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Yass — who rarely speaks to media — firmly believes the 2020 election was not "stolen" or rigged as the former president has repeatedly claimed.
Though TikTok and its parent company have been scrutinized recently for their data collection practices, previous efforts by the Trump Administration to ban the app failed in the court system. On March 5, a bipartisan group of representatives in Congress introduced a bill that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok or be banned in the US. Biden has said he'd sign the legislation if brought to his desk.
Club for Growth, to which Yass has donated more than $60 million since 2010, has tapped former Trump White House advisor Kellyanne Conway to advocate against the TikTok bill, Politico reported on Saturday.