Mike Pence launches $2M ad buy using Sen. Schumer’s past remarks that TikTok be ‘closed down’ to pass bill

Former Vice President Mike Pence is launching a $2 million ad buy to pressure Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to get behind a House bill that would force China to sell TikTok.

Advancing American Freedom, a conservative advocacy group led by Pence, announced that its ad campaign will start next week and target voters in Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington, DC — key spots in November’s elections and where TikTok has been playing defense and heavily advertising.

AAF’s video ad campaign juxtaposes past calls by Schumer (D-NY) for the Chinese-owned social media app to “be closed down in America” with voters urging him and senators in each of the states and DC to vote for TikTok’s divestment.

Former Vice President Mike Pence is launching a $2 million ad buy to pressure Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to get behind a House bill that would force China’s sale of TikTok.

“My hope is, through beginning this ad campaign in a way that really invites Senator Schumer and the Democrats to step up and agree with positions they’ve taken before, that we’ll be able to get this above politics and move legislation that’ll address a very real national security threat for the people of the United States,” Pence said Tuesday during a roundtable with The Post and other reporters.

A spokesman for the New York senator told The Post in a statement, “After the Senate recess is over, Senator Schumer will confer with his colleagues on the best way to move forward.”

TikTok launched a $2.1 million ad buy in the key states and DC last week to dissuade senators from passing the House’s divestment bill.

Pence said he believes the Senate must pass the bill before Memorial Day — or Congress “will be caught up in politics and positioning” and the legislation would not be considered for the rest of the 2024 presidential election cycle.

Schumer has yet to say whether he will support the controversial bill.REUTERS

“I think that TikTok today represents a national security threat to the United States in real time,” the ex-vice president said. “It’s an enormous platform for interference in our elections, and it’s an enormous platform for flooding our country with propaganda in support of China’s actions in the Asia Pacific.”

TikTok has “unquestionably shaped public opinion among young people” about Israel’s war with Hamas after the terror group’s invasion of the Jewish state on Oct. 7, Pence said.

He also warned that TikTok could have a catastrophic effect on public opinion should China invade Taiwan.

“If military action unfolds in the Taiwan Straits, it is intolerable to think of the Chinese Communist Party having access to 170 million Americans, in real time, to advance their propaganda against Americans’ interest in the interest of our allies,” he emphasized. “That’s how high the stakes are here.”

TikTok CEO Shou Chew tells users to “make their voices heard” as a US bill to ban his company’s wildly popular app gains steam.
TikTok/@tiktok

The House last month voted 352-65 to pass the TikTok bill, which would force Chinese state-owned ByteDance to sell the app within 180 days.

The bill, the target of a fierce lobbying campaign by the app and its users, would still need to clear the Democrat-controlled Senate and be signed into law by President Biden.

Biden agreed in March to sign the House bill if it was passed by both chambers.

Known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill also bans access to other apps controlled by foreign adversaries including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Schumer has yet to signal whether he will hold a vote on the proposed legislation. Some Senate Democrats have suggested changes to the bill as it remains under committee debate.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is preparing to introduce some changes to potentially lengthen the timeline for TikTok to find a US buyer, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is already preparing to introduce some changes to anticipate future legal challenges by TikTok and potentially lengthen the timeline for the app to find a US buyer, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

But asked whether the bill needed any changes, Pence told The Post, “I never question people’s motives — but let me tell you, in my 12 years in the Congress, when things came to the House of Representatives that had passed by 90 votes in the Senate, there was a general expectation that the bill was done.

“And I know the Senate doesn’t have a history of showing deference to the House — but for heaven’s sake, 350-plus vote in the House of Representatives,” he said. “And more importantly to me, was a 50-to-0 vote on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Pence said, “China has no right to protection under the First Amendment of the Constitution.”

“This is a very popular platform with young people, and I have no doubt people could assemble the capital to put this together,” Pence said of discussions of Americans buying TikTok, pointing to efforts to do so by former Trump-era Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

At the same time, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have called on the Biden administration to declassify intelligence about the Chinese app to inform voters about the vulnerability of their user data.

“TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is tied to the Chinese Communist Party by strict laws in Beijing that force companies to hand over users’ personal data,” Blackburn told The Post in a statement. “If TikTok wants to stay in the U.S. marketplace, they need to separate from the Chinese CCP’s control — plain and simple.

“The Senate should take this issue up swiftly to protect our national security interests, and we should declassify the information given to Congress so that the American public can understand the exact threat we’re facing.”

Pence told The Post that he “100%” supports the declassification of information that Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) and ranking member Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have seen from the US intelligence community about Beijing’s access to TikTok user data.

Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Mark Warner (left) and ranking member Marco Rubio (right) have seen information about Beijing’s troubling access to TikTok user data.

Other privacy-minded lawmakers such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have argued there are First Amendment concerns with the bill.

TikTok users, some of whom rely on the app for their livelihood, could have their free speech stifled if the app shuts down — even temporarily — before a non-Chinese buyer is secured, the app has argued.

Pence countered, “China has no right to protection under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

“The United States Constitution explicitly gives the federal government the authority to regulate international commerce,” he said. “All this business about constitutional issues — it’s a red herring.”

Reps for Cantwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

文章来源：New York Post

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