Transcript: Rep. John Moolenaar on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Oct. 26, 2025

The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. John Moolenaar, Republican of Michigan, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 26, 2025.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And joining us now is the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Michigan Republican Representative John Moolenaar. Welcome, congressman.

REP. JOHN MOOLENAAR: Thank you, Margaret, good to be with you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So much to get to with you. But just quickly, if the prime adversary and threat to the United States is in China and the Pacific is bringing them to the west- all the military the Western Hemisphere in such full force and focus the thing to do?

REP. MOOLENAAR: Well, I think we're sending an important message that we're no longer going to allow drug trafficking coming in and killing American lives. And you know, China is very much behind the Fentanyl crisis that's killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, and so--

MARGARET BRENNAN: --That's out of Mexico, primarily.

REP. MOOLENAAR: Well, and I think the president takes the Western Hemisphere very seriously, and getting the drugs out of our backyard, I think is an important step forward.

MARGARET BRENNAN: On the committee work that you've been doing, I'm sure you heard from Treasury Secretary Bessent at the top of the program that he says China has agreed to the TikTok deal. 170 million Americans use this social media app. Congress had passed a law to force this sale and cited it as a national security threat if it continued to operate the way it has. Have your national security concerns about the app and about this transaction been addressed?

REP. MOOLENAAR: Well, I think it's important that we note that it- the law requires a divestment and getting the Chinese Communist Party control away from the app as well as the algorithm, and it allows ownership only up to 20% for Chinese entity ByteDance. And to me, it's very important that that's carried out. We don't know all the specifics of this, but we know that American companies are very interested in participating. There's the proposal for a lease agreement, but how you get that algorithm completely out of the Chinese control is going to be up to the experts. You know, there's 6 million pieces of code in this algorithm, and we need to make sure that it's protected for the American people.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So that algorithm is the data tracking system that's pulled from a user's habits. And so the accusation was also that this was basically manipulating consumers in terms of what they were able to see. So will that algorithm be maintained, and will upgrades only be conducted by, for example, American engineers?

REP. MOOLENAAR: That would be my recommendation because, ultimately, we don't want a Chinese propaganda effort affecting 170 million Americans. We also want to make sure that to make sure that data from Americans is kept secure, and as long as the Chinese are involved, I think there's reasons for distrust, and--

MARGARET BRENNAN: Even with the 20% stake?

REP. MOOLENAAR: I'm still concerned about it. Quite frankly, you know, the Chinese report to the Chinese Communist Party, and they will leverage every advantage they get. But the President has set a goal of making this available to the American people, following the law that was passed in a bipartisan way and I trust that they are doing that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The President has not been following the letter of the law that you voted for. You know that.

REP. MOOLENAAR: Well, I think- I think the goal has been to come to an agreement, to come to a deal, and they've been working very hard to do that. But when you have the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, with direct leverage on this in terms of what they will do, what they won't do, it's very difficult to continue to make that available. But I trust the people who are negotiating that, recognize we've got to get the control of the algorithm away from the Chinese Communist Party, the app, and make sure that the ownership is controlled by America, not China.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So let's talk about that ownership. The president said the investors would include Michael Dell, Lachlan Murdoch, whose family owns Fox News, and Larry Ellison, whose son owns Paramount, parent company of CBS News. Do you have concerns that people who are boosters of the President will have ownership of social media in this way?

REP. MOOLENAAR: You know, I think--

MARGARET BRENNAN: -- Since it's so powerful.

REP. MOOLENAAR: Well there are some, I'm sure investors. Not everybody is simply a supporter of the President, but I believe that in this case, Congress has a role for oversight, and we will be meeting with the parties of transaction. We also will have hearings on this, because at the end of the day, we want this controlled by American companies, regardless of what their political affiliation. We don't want it controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But Secretary Bessent said he got the Chinese to say yes, and on Thursday, he used the word "consummated", that this deal will be signed off between Xi and Trump. So are your hearings just after the fact? Or, you know, what effect do you hope they will have?

REP. MOOLENAAR: Well, oversight. Congress has a legitimate role of oversight. We passed a law--

MARGARET BRENNAN: -- Meaning you assume this deal is done. That this transaction is happening, and you're just going to monitor it?

REP. MOOLENAAR: I would assume that if the President comes to an agreement, which he's charged to do under the law, and if that happens on Thursday, then it will move forward. And there may be challenges to that law or the implementation of it, but Congress has a role of oversight to ensure that the law is followed.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The Wall Street Journal reported that Xi Jinping called TikTok, quote spiritual opium, and he saw this as just like a low cost bargaining chip for China. Do you think that- that's what's happening here? That this is just an easy thing to hand over to--

REP. MOOLENAAR: I believe it's a very addictive app. China has made a lot of money because of that, but they've also used it in a way that allows you know their information, their propaganda, to be propagated. They control the algorithm, and that's why we passed that bipartisan law. So I believe Xi Jinping views this as a strategic asset. That's why he didn't want to sell it to some of the other American companies that were interested in purchasing it. So as long as they're involved, I think we have to recognize that TikTok, even an American version still could be open to influence from the Chinese Communist Party.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Or whoever owns it.

REP. MOOLENAAR: Whoever owns it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The algorithm.

REP. MOOLENAAR: The algorithm.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, thank you very much, and we'll be watching for those hearings.

REP. MOOLENAAR: Thank you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We'll be right back.

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