{"id":2222935,"date":"2024-04-17T05:14:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T09:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/maria-cantwell-took-thousands-from-tiktok-lobbyist-days-after-house-passed-bill-targeting-chinese-owned-app\/"},"modified":"2024-04-17T05:15:09","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T09:15:09","slug":"maria-cantwell-took-thousands-from-tiktok-lobbyist-days-after-house-passed-bill-targeting-chinese-owned-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/maria-cantwell-took-thousands-from-tiktok-lobbyist-days-after-house-passed-bill-targeting-chinese-owned-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Maria Cantwell received substantial donations from a TikTok lobbyist shortly after the House approved a bill aimed at Chinese-owned apps"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmaria-cantwell-took-thousands-from-tiktok-lobbyist-days-after-house-passed-bill-targeting-chinese-owned-app%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2222935&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Senator Maria Cantwell\u200d of Washington, the chair of\u200c the\u2063 Senate\u200b Commerce \u2064Committee, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bernie-unloads-after-manchin-sinks-dems-latest-spending-bill-intentionally-sabotaging-the-presidents-agenda\/\" title=\"Bernie Unloads After Manchin Sinks Dems Latest Spending Bill: \u2018Intentionally Sabotaging The President\u2019s Agenda\u2019\">received campaign contributions<\/a> from a TikTok lobbyist following the House&#8217;s approval \u200bof a\u200d bill targeting the \u2063app. Concerns have been raised\u2062 about her ties \u200cto TikTok, as\u200c well \u200bas her role in the bill&#8217;s progress through Congress. Former aides\u2062 now working \u2064for TikTok add to the controversy. Senator Maria Cantwell \u2063of Washington, who leads the \u200bSenate Commerce Committee, accepted donations\u2062 from a TikTok lobbyist after the House endorsed \u2062a\u200d bill against the app. Her \u200dconnections \u200bto TikTok and\u200c the involvement of former aides now\u2064 working \u200cfor the company have sparked concerns about her influence\u2063 on the bill&#8217;s advancement\u200d in Congress.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>Washington senator has slowed TikTok bill\u2019s passage through Congress<\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tSen. Maria Cantwell (Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), the head of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, took thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from a TikTok lobbyist just days after the House passed its bipartisan bill targeting the Chinese-owned app, new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-to-showcase-business-tied-to-energy-sec-granholm\/\" title=\"Biden to Showcase Business Tied to Energy Sec Granholm\">financial disclosures reveal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ben McMakin, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flashback-former-ag-barr-initiated-spying-program-on-americans-back-in-1992\/\" title=\"FLASHBACK: Former AG Barr Initiated Spying Program on Americans Back in 1992\">executive vice president<\/a> at Crossroads Strategies and a lobbyist for TikTok since 2020, contributed a total of $2,000 to Cantwell\u2019s reelection campaign, according to financial <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/cgi-bin\/forms\/C00349506\/1775712\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">disclosures<\/a> reviewed by the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>. McMakin made two $1,000 <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Untitled-design-36.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">donations<\/a> on March 19 and March 20, approximately one week after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/house-passes-bill-cracking-down-on-chinese-owned-tiktok\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">passed<\/a> its bill that would crack down on TikTok and force its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest from it. As chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Cantwell has jurisdiction over the bill, and whether it eventually moves forward to a floor vote in the upper chamber.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Cantwell faced scrutiny following revelations that the Washington Democrat has ties to the Chinese-owned video-sharing app, with several of her former <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/latest-news\/democratic-critic-of-house-tiktok-bill-has-ties-to-app\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">senior aides<\/a> now working for TikTok as it lobbies lawmakers to kill the legislation. Senators have also expressed concern that her slow approach will give TikTok time to rally lawmakers against the bill. Cantwell did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Rosemary Gutierrez, once Cantwell&#8217;s former deputy chief of staff, now serves as a TikTok lobbyist at <a href=\"https:\/\/mehlmanconsulting.com\/team-member\/rosemary-gutierrez\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mehlman Consulting<\/a>, having joined the firm roughly one year after leaving Cantwell&#8217;s office in 2020. The Washington Democrat&#8217;s former chief of staff, Michael Meehan, left Cantwell&#8217;s office to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sqcomms.com\/team\/michael-meehan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">launch<\/a> Squared Communications, a consulting firm that is working for TikTok. Additionally, Kim Lipsky, who previously held the role of staff director for the Commerce Committee under Cantwell, is on TikTok&#8217;s payroll as a government relations staffer. Notably, Lipsky supported Cantwell\u2019s reelection campaign with a $1,500 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/receipts\/individual-contributions\/?committee_id=C00349506&#038;contributor_employer=TIKTOK&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2024&#038;min_date=01%2F01%2F2023&#038;max_date=12%2F31%2F2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contribution<\/a> last year, while Lisa Hayes, TikTok\u2019s senior director of tech policy and senior counsel, contributed $500.<\/p>\n<p>While McMakin has not been previously employed by Cantwell, he did work for her close Senate colleague, Patty Murray (D., Wash.), and served as her legislative director for nearly a decade. As senators for the state of Washington, Cantwell and Murray regularly work together to introduce legislation.<\/p>\n<p>According to Crossroads Strategies\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lda.senate.gov\/filings\/public\/filing\/search\/?registrant=&#038;registrant_country=&#038;registrant_ppb_country=&#038;client=&#038;client_state=&#038;client_country=&#038;client_ppb_country=&#038;lobbyist=Ben+McMakin&#038;lobbyist_covered_position=&#038;lobbyist_conviction_disclosure=&#038;lobbyist_conviction_date_range_from=&#038;lobbyist_conviction_date_range_to=&#038;report_period=&#038;report_year=&#038;report_dt_posted_from=&#038;report_dt_posted_to=&#038;report_amount_reported_min=&#038;report_amount_reported_max=&#038;report_filing_uuid=&#038;report_house_doc_id=&#038;report_issue_area_description=&#038;affiliated_organization=&#038;affiliated_organization_country=&#038;foreign_entity=&#038;foreign_entity_country=&#038;foreign_entity_ppb_country=&#038;foreign_entity_ownership_percentage_min=&#038;foreign_entity_ownership_percentage_max=&#038;search=search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">disclosures<\/a>\u2014on which McMakin is listed as the top lobbyist\u2014TikTok pays the firm nearly half a million dollars annually to sway lawmakers against bills meant to regulate the app. McMakin did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Last week Sen. Cantwell <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/senate-democrat-with-ties-to-chinese-owned-tiktok-pans-house-divestment-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> reporters that the bill requiring ByteDance to divest from TikTok or face a ban, &#8220;could be better.&#8221; In particular, Cantwell said the House bill might not stand up to legal scrutiny if passed. However, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-repeals-travel-ban-to-states-with-anti-lgbt-laws\/\" title=\"California lifts travel ban on states with anti-LGBT laws.\">constitutional law firm<\/a> that analyzed the legislation disagreed, and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JTLonsdale\/status\/1770517157731811564\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> that the divestment bill &#8220;is consistent with the United States Constitution.&#8221; The firm also found that the House bill &#8220;regulates conduct\u2014the foreign ownership of a covered platform\u2014not speech, so the First Amendment likely does not apply.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Unlike her colleagues, Cantwell has also <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/democrat-maria-cantwell-emerges-as-key-player-in-tiktok-fight-her-former-aides-are-working-for-the-company\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stressed<\/a> patience when it comes to pushing the House bill forward. After a group of bipartisan senators attended a classified briefing on TikTok last month, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said the app &#8220;is a gun pointed at Americans\u2019 heads,&#8221; while Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) added that &#8220;there was a deep concern about the threat of TikTok from both sides of the aisle,&#8221; and called on the Senate to &#8220;expeditiously&#8221; advance the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The next steps might be something more public, like a hearing,&#8221; Cantwell said after emerging from the briefing. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s important to get it right.&#8221;\t<\/p>\n<p>In the past, Cantwell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2024\/04\/13\/congress-maria-cantwell-online-privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">championed<\/a> and even campaigned on internet privacy. However, during her tenure as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, few such bills introduced to address privacy and content moderation have advanced.<\/p>\n<p>The TikTok lobbyist&#8217;s support for Cantwell comes amid ongoing concerns about the company&#8217;s handling of Americans&#8217; private data. A former senior employee at TikTok recently said he was <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/latest-news\/ex-tiktok-employee-says-he-was-ordered-to-send-us-data-to-china\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/latest-news\/ex-tiktok-employee-says-he-was-ordered-to-send-us-data-to-china\/&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1713390554501000&#038;usg=AOvVaw0G_EBOldgDEImCKcqCtwS4\">ordered<\/a> to send American user data to Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, contradicting TikTok\u2019s public claims of operating independently from China.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, head of the Senate Commerce Committee, accepted campaign donations from a TikTok lobbyist shortly after the House passed a bill targeting the Chinese-owned app. Her actions have raised concerns about the bill&#8217;s progress through Congress. Financial disclosures reveal this controversial connection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2360,"featured_media":2222936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/nominee-for-faa-administrator-phillip-a-washington-testifies-before-se-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2222935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/nominee-for-faa-administrator-phillip-a-washington-testifies-before-se-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2222935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2222936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2222935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2222935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2222935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}