AP Photo/Matt Rourke
- President Donald Trump discussed the pending TikTok deal with Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon in a phone call Friday, Bloomberg reported.
- On the call, Trump told Ellison and McMillon that he's still pushing for the US government to be paid as part of the deal, according to Bloomberg.
- The president has repeatedly made the argument, even though he acknowledged Wednesday that government lawyers had advised him there was "no legal path" for such a payment.
- The Commerce Department said earlier on Friday that it will ban all TikTok and WeChat app downloads starting Sunday under Trump's executive orders, leaving TikTok racing to finalize a deal.
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President Donald Trump again made the case that the US government should receive a payout as part of a TikTok deal, this time to Oracle cofounder and chairman Larry Ellison and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, Bloomberg reported.
Trump spoke with Ellison and McMillon by phone on Friday, according to Bloomberg, as he's considering whether to sign off on a deal submitted by Oracle and TikTok parent ByteDance earlier this week and on the same day the US Commerce Department said it will ban all downloads of the viral video app starting Sunday.
Trump has repeatedly argued that the US government should get a cut of any deal involving the sale of TikTok's assets to an American company, which he has sought to force through multiple executive orders due to alleged national security concerns.
But on Wednesday, Trump said his lawyers had advised him there's no "legal path" through which the government could receive such a payout.
"Amazingly, I find that you're not allowed to do that — you're not allowed to accept money," Trump told reporters during the press conference. "If they're willing to make big payments to the government, they're not allowed, because there's no way of doing that."
On Thursday, the US Treasury Department and ByteDance reportedly reached a tentative agreement for a deal that would allow Oracle and US investors to take a majority stake in TikTok. Walmart, which had initially joined a bid with Microsoft, is still looking to become an investor in the viral video app, according to Bloomberg.
As the Sunday deadline looms, any deal is far from certain.
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