Demands U.S. Treasury receive a cut of any forced TikTok sale as 'key money'

In remarks to reporters on August 3, 2020, and again on August 4, Trump said that a "very substantial portion" of any price Microsoft paid to acquire TikTok from ByteDance would "have to come into the Treasury of the United States, because we're making it possible for this deal to happen." He compared the arrangement to a landlord collecting "key money" from a tenant, and doubling down the next day said "we have all the cards" and that the Treasury deserved "a big portion of the price." Legal experts, including a former DOJ Antitrust Division chief counsel and University of Texas law professor Bobby Chesney, said the demand had no basis in law; Chesney said flatly, "No. This can't be done," noting CFIUS cost recoupment is capped at roughly $300,000. Critics characterized the demand as conditioning a federal national-security action on a payment to the government, with some commentators describing it as extortion-like.

"we think we deserve to have a big percentage of that price coming to the Treasury" Quote verified against source