GOP Senator Profits From Tech Giant at Center of TikTok Debate
One of the most powerful corporate entities in the country, which has a number of controversial ties to China, appears to have been providing a passive revenue stream to an influential Republican senator for years.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who sits on the powerful Finance Committee and chairs the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, has deep ties to Oracle, dating back to his life as a private sector entrepreneur. Those relationships continued while Daines was in office, reaping hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, from the Austin, Texas-based software and analytics giant.
Today, Oracle is at the center of the complex but heated national political debate about TikTok and its relationship with the Chinese government, with its $1 billion TikTok data management contract playing a key role in the controversy. While the TikTok discourse has dominated the national stage lately, that contract is just the tip of the iceberg for Oracle, a powerful beltway player that has seen a number of recent scandals—including deadly failures from a Veterans Administration project and ties to dicey security contractors in China.