A foundation tied to a veteran House Democrat accepted checks from China’s ByteDance before he voted against a bill that would make the company divest from the popular social media app TikTok, records show.
Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) in March diverged from his ally President Joe Biden, who supports anti-TikTok legislation, in opposing the bipartisan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which may lead to TikTok being banned in the United States over national security concerns from lawmakers. Clyburn, who has personally received campaign donations from TikTok’s lobbying army, saw at least $40,000 in recent years flood into a nonprofit organization affiliated with him, according to congressional lobbying disclosures.
“We can’t say for a fact that his position is due to the money, but it’s perfectly reasonable to be concerned about financial incentives leading to political incentives,” said Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst and investigative researcher for the conservative Capital Research Center think tank. “Generally, it’s concerning how politicians often take positions they otherwise might not at the expense of the country they’re supposed to represent.”
The grants from ByteDance, of which China’s government in 2019 took a 1% stake and which has spied on American journalists, underscores the company’s sprawling influence as it stares down what could be the end of its ownership of TikTok. The anti-TikTok bill is bipartisan and faces an uncertain future in the Senate — though Biden has said he would sign the bill into law if it clears the upper chamber.
TikTok spokeswoman Jodi Seth declined to say if there’s any broader relationship between ByteDance and Clyburn’s office. “This was a donation to a 501(c)(3) organization that provides need-based scholarships to students hoping to go to college,” Seth, who used to be a top aide to then-Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry until 2013, told the Washington Examiner.
Clyburn, 83, told the Washington Examiner last week that his opposition to the TikTok bill is due to concern about “singling out one company but ignoring the transgressions of others.” In a statement to NBC News, he said there are many Chinese companies in his South Carolina district that “make refrigerators and all kinds of stuff” and expressed concerns about potentially alienating the youth vote in the 2024 election by threatening TikTok.
In 2023, ByteDance sprinkled $20,000 into the James E. Clyburn Scholarship and Research Foundation, which is “committed to educating the community by advocating for continuous process of education, career, and life development,” according to lobbying disclosures. It was just one of four donations that ByteDance reported on its year-end lobbying contribution report transmitted to the Senate, along with $10,000 to the National Consumers League, $150,000 to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and $155,000 to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute counts “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who joined Clyburn in opposing the TikTok bill, on its advisory council. TikTok lobbyist Jesse Price was listed by the institute on its tax forms filed in November 2022 as a director, though not in 2023, following a Washington Examiner report on his role.
That grant wasn’t the first time, as ByteDance, which has spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying since 2019, also sent $20,000 to the James E. Clyburn Scholarship and Research Foundation in 2021, lobbying disclosures show.
In the case of the 2021 donation, it was one of only two contributions that ByteDance reported on its year-end lobbying report. The other grant was $10,000 to support Taste of the South, a ritzy annual gala in Washington, D.C., sponsored by major corporations.
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), who voted in favor of the bill taking aim at TikTok, thinks there’s a clear connection between how Clyburn voted on the bill and donations to his campaign and foundation.
“If you are ever going to change Washington, D.C., for the better, you have to get the money out of Washington, D.C.,” Nehls, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Examiner. “It should concern us all. Now you know why he didn’t support the legislation. You know the old adage, follow the money? There you go.”
The James E. Clyburn Scholarship and Research Foundation has previously come under the spotlight for taking $1.6 million from corporations. According to the American Prospect, a progressive-leaning news outlet, the foundation is “a way for the congressman to use his immense political and fundraising power to benefit young people and families, including constituents in his district.”
Clyburn’s ties to corporations notably prompted then-Harvard University professor Cornel West, a left-wing activist running for president in 2024 as an independent, to call the South Carolina Democrat “partly an extension of Big Pharma companies” in 2020.
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The pharmaceutical and health products industry has given Clyburn over $1 million since 2007, the Post and Courier reported in 2018, noting he received more than any other member during that time period.
A spokeswoman for Clyburn declined to answer questions about ByteDance, telling the Washington Examiner, “The James E. Clyburn Scholarship and Research Foundation has been in existence for 35 years.”
