Democratic Sen. Warner: ‘Trump was right’ on TikTok national security concerns

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., acknowledged on Monday that former President Donald Trump was correct regarding national security concerns over the social media platform TikTok. 

Warner, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence chairman, said during a committee hearing that Trump had been right in his warnings years ago regarding TikTok, Fox News reported. 

"It was rare for me to say that Donald Trump was right," Warner said. "But Donald Trump was right years ago when he pointed out the enormous national security concerns around TikTok, both in terms of obtaining data, but also think about the percentage – I think there are about 170 million Americans who use TikTok." 

On Thursday, a House panel unanimously passed a bill that gives TikTok's China-based parent company, ByteDance, 165 days to sell the social media platform. Lawmakers said the bill could be taken up by the House as early as this week and President Biden told reporters Friday that he would sign the bill if Congress passes it. 

"This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States," TikTok said after the Thursday vote, according to Reuters. "The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression. This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country."  

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who introduced the legislation with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said regarding the bill, "TikTok could live on and people could do whatever they want on it provided there is that separation. It is not a ban - think of this as a surgery designed to remove the tumor and thereby save the patient in the process."   

Former President Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but was blocked by courts.  

Trump posted on Truth Social last week that he opposes the bipartisan TikTok bill.  

“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” he wrote. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”