GOP senators prepare tough approach to Trump’s stance on China, TikTok:

The eleventh-hour and now 12-hour drama surrounding TikTok has angered Republican senators, who met at the Jefferson Hotel in DC yesterday for a Sunday breakfast and a follow-up dinner a few hours later.

Sources present told Fox Business that the senators expressed solidarity, saying the national security risk posed by the Chinese-owned social media app is “about as serious as it gets.” There are concerns that President Donald Trump “does not understand the law and may not be prepared for the strong insistence he will hear from the Republican side” that the “decision or ban” law must be followed.

Fox Business has learned that top GOP senators, including Tom Cotton (R-NE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tom Tillis (R-NC) and Rick Scott (R-FL), attended events he hosted billionaire Frank McCourt Jr. and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary. McCourt and O’Leary lead the team that submitted a $20 billion bid to TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to take over the platform’s US operations. Their offer is allegedly the only one approved by the Ministry of Justice.

Sources say Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) on the House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, was also at the events.

TIKTOK STARTS RESTORING SERVICES AFTER TRUMP VOWS EXECUTIVE ORDER ON DAY ONE

Almost all lawmakers in attendance participated in a closed-door secret intelligence briefing last March that detailed TikTok’s influence and reach. That briefing cemented a rare bipartisan push that resulted in a bill requiring TikTok to sell its U.S. division to a U.S. entity or face an outright ban.

Although the contents of the confidential briefing were not released, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters after leaving the session in March. “My reaction to this briefing is that TikTok has a gun pointed at the heads of Americans. He added, “The Chinese Communists are using the information they are constantly, secretly collecting from 170 million Americans and potentially targeting that information, using it through algorithms to the core of American democracy.”

Senator Cotton warns Apple, Microsoft, Google could face ‘crushing bankruptcy’ by breaking Tiktok ban

Sources close to the situation said Senators Graham and Senator Cotton were particularly outspoken during Sunday’s meetings, insisting that US app hosts, including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon, which distribute the service could face “devastating liability” under the law .

The law says web hosting providers must end their relationship with the platform or face a daily fine of $5,000 per user still able to access the service. This fine can quickly grow into billions of dollars.

‘TIKTOK IS BACK’: TRUMP TEASES FUTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA APPS

Senator Cotton later took over X for posting both thanks and a warning to app store pages. “We commend Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft for following the law and stopping their work with ByteDance and TikTok, and we encourage other companies to do the same. The law, after all, risks bankruptcy for any company that violates it,” separately adding“Any company that hosts, distributes, services or otherwise enables the communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars in devastating legal liability, not only from the DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits and to state AGs. Think about it.”

Although TikTok has restored access to the platform, none of the hosting providers have made it possible to download the app.

Cotton, a Harvard-educated lawyer, also indicated that President Trump had not been sworn in by the January 19 deadline and was therefore in no position to ‘extend’ the time before the ban takes effect.

He wrote on X“Now that the law has gone into effect, there is no legal basis for any ‘extension’ of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that meets the legal requirements for a qualified takeover by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China, Americans will be protected from a serious threat to their privacy and security by the Communist-controlled TikTok.”

KEVIN O’LEARY WARNS TIKTOK’S FATE COULD BE DETERMINED BY “SECRET GOLDEN SHARE” THAT GAVE BEIJING “VETO” POWER

Graham: “Chinese Golden Share companies must be banned/delisted in the US.

After the McCourt-O’Leary huddle, Senator Graham also approached Xu with a new plan to remove all so-called Chinese companies from the “golden share structure.” Golden Share is the name for companies where the Chinese Communist Party and its leader Xi Jinping decide and can control management decisions.

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Graham posted last night: “It’s clear that what’s known as the ‘Chinese golden share structure’ is standing in the way of TikTok’s rescue.”

If a company has a “golden share structure”, it means that one of the shareholders is Xi Jinping, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. He owns you and makes all the decisions.

I will soon introduce legislation with my Senate colleagues to prevent any company that has a “Chinese gold stock” from being listed on any US stock exchange and, further, to delist any existing company that has a gold stock structure from any US stock exchange.”

One source in attendance told Fox Business that the agreement among Republican attendees to follow the law and the Supreme Court ruling upholding it was “pretty much unanimous,” adding that “those social media platform owners have an inordinate amount of power. (These platforms) skew the results.” and unnecessarily polarizing us. They optimize for triggering people and antagonizing them.”