by Frank Holmes, reporter
Socialists aren’t supposed to care about money, but don’t tell Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
The Democratic congresswoman has been caught in a new financial scandal that her critics say proves she’s willing to sell out national security for heaps of cash from Big Tech and Beijing.
This week, AOC came out swinging against a proposal to ban TikTok from the United States. Republicans say the Chinese-run social media app is a clear and present danger, because it collects a massive amount of personal, private data about every user — and places it at the disposal of the Chinese Communist Party.
But Democrats worry taking any action against the video-sharing site will drive off Woke young liberals—and White House officials have admitted they’re worried about backlash from their Millennial and Gen Z voters.
AOC ran to the rescue, saying in the first video posted to her newly opened TikTok account that “to me, the solution here is not to ban an individual company,” Besides, protecting national security from the Chinese spying app just “doesn’t feel right to me,” she added.
ICYMI: @AOC has joined tiktok to talk about tiktok — & she’s spot on📲🫡👏pic.twitter.com/QwqsXNWq94
— Annie Wu⸆⸉ (all socials: @annie_wu_22) (@Annie_Wu_22) March 25, 2023
The real problem is that banning TikTok would make her wallet lighter, critics say.
Official reports show that the Chinese-based company that owns TikTok, ByteDance, donated $150,000 to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute last year…and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sits on the group’s advisory council.
“What a coincidence!” said Jake Denton, an expert on technology policy at the Heritage Foundation, who dug up the donation links.
TikTok’s parent company gave $150,000 to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.
AOC is a member of the CHCI advisory council.
What a coincidence! https://t.co/74BrFMGeQA
— Jake Denton (@RealJDenton) March 26, 2023
AOC’s video echoes “TikTok’s talking points and ignores the app’s true threat: CCP-directed disinformation,” said American Foreign Policy Council fellow Michael Sobolik.
Ironically, her new position puts her on the same page as the Democrat she unseated when she became the youngest member of Congress—a normal liberal whom she claimed served big corporations instead of the people.
“Five years after unseating him, AOC is now on the same side as Rep. Joe Crowley, who is a paid TikTok lobbyist helping the Chinese company shape its outreach to Congress,” wrote Substack reporter Lee Fang.
Five years after unseating him, AOC is now on the same side as Rep. Joe Crowley, who is a paid TikTok lobbyist helping the Chinese company shape its outreach to Congress pic.twitter.com/Aejq44AnyF
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) March 27, 2023
Now, they have the same position—and the same paymaster: the Chinese Communist Party.
Interestingly, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute does not list the ByteDance donation on its list of corporate sponsors and “strategic partners.”
Of course, AOC was not the only socialist Democrat who supported the Chinese Communist Party-linked app.
Far-left Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., slammed the GOP’s proposal to ban TikTok from U.S.-based tech devices, which Bowman called “racist” and xenophobic hatred of the world’s one billion Chinese people.
Then again, Jamaal Bowman’s wife, Melissa Oppenheimer, worked with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation—which received a $150,000 donation from ByteDance, as well.
Why did ByteDance target those specific organizations, which are tied to the most socialist members of Congress? The company isn’t saying.
Fox News asked the company why it donated to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation…but ByteDance didn’t bite, refusing to answer.
But many on the Right had their own ideas, saying AOC and her friends are on the take.
“Follow the money,” said investor Matt Patterson.
Follow the money.
— Matt Patterson (@__MattPatt__) March 26, 2023
There’s a lot of money to follow. Campaign donation reports show that ByteDance has spent more than $13.4 million lobbying the federal government since 2019, according to the campaign finance watchdog website OpenSecrets.
And the Chinese company is finding a way to fund American elected officials, even though that means breaking the law.
U.S. federal codes make it illegal for foreigners to donate to U.S. politicians—but ByteDance has donated at least $410,000 to groups and think tanks that are associated with members of U.S. Congress.
In addition to supporting the Hispanic and black caucuses, “ByteDance also made a donation of $75,000 in December in honor of the 68 members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus to the nonprofit Asian Pacific Institute for Congressional Studies,” reported campaign finance reporter Donald Shaw.
The Asian Caucus doesn’t report the ByteDance donation, either.
It’s not just Democrats: The Red Chinese spread a little money to red-state Republicans. ByteDance donated $35,000 to the Ripon Society, a group of GOP moderates named for the Wisconsin city where the Republican Party was born.
Ripon did not answer Shaw’s questions about the donation.
Are all these financial ties coincidence? What do you think?
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”