President Trump claims a “group of wealthy people” are ready to buy TikTok, ensuring the popular video-sharing app avoids a looming, thrice-delayed U.S. ban.
But he won’t say who wants to take ownership just yet.
“I’m extending that, but no big deal. We have a buyer for TikTok by the way,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures that aired on Sunday. “I think I’ll probably need China’s approval. I think President Xi [Jinping] will probably do it.”
When asked for the identity of the buyers group, the president demurred, saying, “I’ll tell you in about two weeks.”
The Independent has contacted TikTok parent company ByteDance for comment.
The teaser comes after the Trump administration on June 19 delayed for the third time implementing a 2024 law that would ban the app unless it can find a new owner for its U.S. operations.
“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement earlier this month.
“This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure,” she added.
The president has said in the past that buyers were ready to take over TikTok, only for a deal to fail to materialize.
Critics argue that Trump lacks the legal authority to keep stalling on the TikTok ban, which Congress passed under President Joe Biden and allows for a single 90-day extension if a buyer is close to a deal for the app.
Ambivalence has long shaded Trump’s relationship towards TikTok, which he unsuccessfully tried to ban by executive order in his first term, then embraced as a campaign tool to reach some of the app’s more than 100 million U.S. users.
The president frequently claims major developments on issues like the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the U.S. role in the Israel-Iran conflict are “two weeks” away — enough that a reporter recently pressed Leavitt over the apparent rhetorical strategy.
“President Trump has said previously, in regard to Russia, he’s used the phrase ‘about two weeks’ several times, in terms of, like, ‘We expect a two week deadline,’ and then he’ll give another two week deadline,” the reporter said. “How can we be sure he’s going to stick to this one on making a decision on Iran?”
Most recently, the president this month set a two-week timeline for deciding on whether the United States would strike Iranian nuclear facilities, only to carry out the attack days later.
