Rand Paul CLASHES With Fox New Host During Heated Argument

Republican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky engaged in a heated exchange with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on Thursday as Paul reiterated his stance against a proposed legislation that could potentially result in a ban on the popular social media platform TikTok.

According to Newsweek, the House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that mandates TikTok to restructure its ownership in response to concerns that its parent company, ByteDance, based in China, may be sharing user information with the Chinese government.

Failure to comply with these requirements could potentially lead to a ban on the app within the United States.

The bill has now been forwarded to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain.

Americans “choose to use TikTok to express themselves,” Paul told The Washington Post on Tuesday.

“I don’t think Congress should be trying to take away the First Amendment rights of [170] million Americans.”

“I think when you’re alleged of a crime, you have to be convicted of it, so you can’t really take someone’s property in our country without a conviction,” Paul said.

“We can like or dislike TikTok — I’ve actually never looked at TikTok — but the thing is, using it or not using it, whether you own it or not own it, really has to be according to the law because there’s a real danger,” he said.

Paul went on to argue that “the company’s owned 60 percent by international investors, 20 percent by the two Chinese software engineers who developed it — the entrepreneurs who began the business — and 20 percent by their employees, 7,000 of whom are Americans.”

“It’s not owned by the Chinese government,” Paul said, adding:

“Like every other international corporation, they deserve their day in court — you can’t just take their property.”

Paul continued on, saying that Kilmeade was “making allegations against a company owned by Americans and you have to prove it in court.”

“ByteDance is owned by China,” Kilmeade said.

“No, it’s not. See, that’s a lie, and you’re defaming the country — you’re defaming the company,” Paul contested.