LA Times -
President Trump has given his “blessing” to Oracle’s partnership with ByteDance to operate TikTok, but his claim that the companies would finance a $5-billion “patriotic” education fund has raised questions about the deal to allow the app to operate in the U.S.
The president said he had given “preliminary” approval for the deal that Oracle and ByteDance, the Chinese owner of the short-video app, proposed to alleviate concerns about protecting U.S. national security.
But in a new twist in the more than week-long negotiations between the companies and his administration, Trump said his team was talking to them about funding a venture that would teach American children about the “real history of our country.”
“We have a deal worked out,” Trump told supporters in North Carolina on Saturday. “They are going to pay $5 billion into a fund for education so we can educate people as to the real history of our country. We are getting very close to that deal.”
However, ByteDance said in a statement Sunday that it had first heard about the $5-billion education fund from media reports.
ByteDance, Oracle and Walmart, which is part of the TikTok deal, agreed to create an initiative after Trump made the last-minute request. But they have had no discussions about a $5-billion commitment or any other amount, according to people familiar with the situation.
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