TikTok lobbyist scored meeting with top Biden adviser whose been slammed for China ties

A Lobbyist TikTok scored a meeting with a top Biden adviser as lawmakers pushed to have the Chinese-government-linked app banned in the United States, records show.

President Joe Biden In December 2022, the government signed a $1.7 trillion spending bill that included TikTok being banned from federal devices and a bipartisan group legislative members They are currently working Biden administration to limit its U.S. operations even further. John Breaux, TikTok lobbyist, met John Podesta (Biden’s senior adviser on clean energy), in November 2022. He was criticized for his ties to the Chinese Communist Party. White House visitor logs show.

TIKTOK HIRES FIRM w/ CLOSE BIDEN TIES. CHINESE COMPANY RISES UP LOBBYING

“From logging your keystrokes to pilfering your contacts, TikTok, via its Beijing-based parent company Bytedance and thus the CCP, opens up Americans to a host of abuses by the Chinese government,” Kara Frederick, who created and led FacebookGlobal Security Counterterrorism Analysis Program (2016-2017), told the Washington Examiner.

“This is why every American should be worried that the Biden administration Frederick, who is now the director of the Tech Policy Center at Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, said that Frederick was willing to meet lobbyists in exchange for the foreign spy app.

Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), John Thune (R-SD). unveiled The White House will have additional power to restrain TikTok as well as other foreign groups like the Chinese military-backed telecommunications company. HuaweiThey are trying to gain influence in the United States. The bill would require that Commerce Department To limit transactions involving technology companies that are tied to foreign enemies like the CCP.

Biden approved a TikTok Ban for more than 4 million government devices in December 2022. Similar Month states intensified efforts to do the exact same. Beijing-based ByteDance is owned by China at least 1%. admitted In mid-December, it obtained access to the IP addresses of employees and other data. BuzzFeed News And the Financial Times — as well as people close to the journalists.

According to White House visitor logs that were released on February 28, Breaux and Podesta met almost a month earlier, on Nov. 15. According to records, the meeting took place at Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Five people were present.

It is not clear what was discussed at that meeting. Neither Crossroads Strategies nor the White House, which has Breaux as a principal or director, have responded to inquiries for comment. Crossroads Strategies Counts Trent Lott, a former Republican senator, was a TikTok lobbyist.

Breaux was a Republican senator from 1987 to 2005 and had many other clients in 2022. These included the oil and gas giant ExxonMobil as well as the defense contractor Raytheon Disclosures for technologies. He registered to lobby TikTok’s behalf in December 2020, and has since been listed on the lobbying disclosure records. Total $910,000.

Podesta was the former president of Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, and Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton. Check out the details Tung Cheehwa is a top official in the Chinese Communist Party. Podesta used to call Chee-hwa a “friend” He accepted many of his calls between 2015-2016 2016 Fox News, while Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, reported.

Chee-hwa is the founder of the China–United States Exchange Foundation, which is funded by the CCP and has been considered by national security experts to be a front group for the party.

“As TikTok is under increasing bipartisan scrutiny in Congress and being banned on government devices due to security risks, why did their lobbyist get a closed-door meeting with John Podesta, someone supposedly on staff as a clean energy adviser?” Pete McGinnis was a spokesperson for the Functional Government Initiative. This watchdog group is a source of information.

“Surely TikTok is not expanding into ‘clean energy,’ so even having a meeting with Podesta raises red flags given his ties to Chinese officials,” He spoke to the Washington Examiner.

Republican lawmakers were concerned about the September White House taping of Podesta for his role as climate advisor. This was due to his previous praises of China.

Podesta remarked that 2013 was a good year for the country. “great opportunities for Chinese firms to directly invest in this nation, to build American infrastructure, to create American jobs, and generate steady and handsome returns,” adding, “There’s also the ability for Chinese firms to invest here and learn best practices, and take those home to the tremendous and growing middle-class market in China.”

“It is no surprise that the Biden White House hired John Podesta, who has known links to China,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TX) Telled The Washington Free Beacon September “This White House does not understand that Beijing is our enemy and a part of the New Axis of Evil.”

TikTok, ByteDance and others spent more than $5.91million in 2022 lobbying Congress and the State Department, Commerce Department, Treasury Department and other agencies. Washington Examiner reported. According to White House visitor logs, Breaux had previously visited New Orleans in June 2022, with Mitch Landrieu (a senior Biden adviser), the former Democratic mayor.

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A Biden administration official visited Breaux for the latest visit It comes after Washington Examiner reported In January, lobbyists from TikTok or ByteDance visited at least eight times the White House between July 2021 – August 2022.

Paul Thornell, a lobbyist for Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas said that. “I’ll take a pass on that,” When asked by the White House whether TikTok had been discussed during his visits to the White House between May and July 2022.