Checks & Imbalances: Kari Lake, Still Complaining About Her Gubernatorial Loss, Releases Musical Track

Today we look at Kari Lake’s new single and investigate TikTok’s data-storage practices.

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TikTok Creators’ Financial Info, Social Security Numbers Have Been Stored In China

“Over the past several years, thousands of TikTok creators and businesses around the world have given the company sensitive financial information—including their social security numbers and tax IDs—so that they can be paid by the platform. But unbeknownst to many of them, TikTok has stored that personal financial information on servers in China that are accessible by employees there,” reports Alexandra S. Levine.

TikTok uses various internal tools and databases from its Beijing-based parent ByteDance to manage payments to creators who earn money through the app, including many of its biggest stars in the United States and Europe. The same tools are used to pay outside vendors and small businesses working with TikTok. But a trove of records obtained by Forbes from multiple sources across different parts of the company reveals that highly sensitive financial and personal information about those prized users and third parties has been stored in China. The discovery also raises questions about whether employees who are not authorized to access that data have been able to. It draws on internal communications, audio recordings, videos, screenshots, documents marked “Privileged and Confidential,” and several people familiar with the matter.

In testimony before Congress earlier this year, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew claimed U.S. user data has been stored on physical servers outside China. “American data has always been stored in Virginia and Singapore in the past, and access of this is on an as-required basis by our engineers globally,” he said under oath at a House hearing in March.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement that “we remain confident in the accuracy of Shou’s testimony.” ByteDance did not respond to a detailed request for comment. At publication time, neither company had answered basic questions about whether sensitive tax information of U.S. citizens is stored and accessible in China.

The day after this report, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the top Republican on the Senate Intel Committee, “asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to open a Justice Department investigation into whether TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew committed perjury in his recent congressional testimony on the company’s handling of American users’ data,” Levine reports.

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Kari Lake Releases Song Called ‘81 Million Votes, My A–’ With Team Behind Trump’s J6 Prison Choir Track

Kari Lake, the Republican who lost Arizona’s gubernatorial race, released a music single Thursday at midnight called “81 Million Votes, My Ass,” according to a post the record label made Wednesday on Truth Social. The track was produced by members of the team behind a song Donald Trump and a group of Jan. 6 prisoners released in March.

A preview of “81 Million Votes, My A–” appeared Wednesday night on Gateway Pundit’s Rumble account. In an interview with that outlet, conservative commentator Ed Henry said that his Mailman Media company and LJ Fino, a music executive who worked on Trump and the J6 Prison Choir’s “Justice for All,” were involved in the release.

The title comes from a line in Lake’s speech at CPAC’s Ronald Reagan dinner and refers to Joe Biden’s vote total in the 2020 presidential election. Lake is among the notable Republicans who claim to believe Donald Trump’s lie that he won the election. “‘81 million votes, my a–,’ that sounds like a country Western song,” Henry said he thought upon hearing Lake’s speech. He later approached her about collaborating.

Lake agreed to participate to raise awareness about voter fraud, she told “Real America’s Voice” on Wednesday. “I want to send a message to the technocrats, to the tyrants, that we’re on to what they’re pushing,” Lake said. “We’re on to this B.S. system.”

Jeffrey Steele, a singer who has penned No. 1 hits for Tim McGraw and Rascal Flatts, wrote and performed “81 Million Votes, My A–” along with a group called the Truth Bombers, according to Henry. “We think that we’re going to start releasing more of these songs, and each one will be a quote-unquote truth bomb,” Henry told Gateway Pundit. “You’re going to hear other America First politicians and other prominent people getting involved.”

Similar to “Justice for All,” the snippet of “81 Million Votes, My A–” that dropped Wednesday interpolates Lake speaking into the music. According to the track’s website, it will be available on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services. It’s not clear what will become of any profits from “81 Million Votes, My A–.” Henry’s Mailman Media was slated to disburse the profits of “Justice for All” to benefit the families of people imprisoned for their alleged roles in the Capitol riots that left five people dead.

Digital sales and streams won’t be “81 Million Votes, My A–’s” only source of income: Mailman Media is selling a vinyl edition for $100, as well as T-shirts and hats.

“Justice for All” sold 22,500 copies in its first 11 days, taking the top spot on the iTunes Store, which measures how many times a song was purchased. Its streaming numbers were not sufficient for it to land on Apple Music or Spotify’s charts.

Henry told Gateway Pundit that he hopes “81 Million Votes, My A–,” will encourage people on all sides of the political spectrum to talk about election fraud. “What I think this song wants to accomplish more than anything is to get people talking about this ahead of 2024.”

Henry and a spokesperson for Lake did not immediately respond to inquiries. Fino declined to comment.

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DeSantis Accused By Watchdog Group Of Illegally Directing Money To Super-PAC

“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his state-level fundraising committee allegedly directed more than $80 million to the group backing his presidential candidacy, flouting federal rules, according to a complaint filed by a campaign finance watchdog group—which lodged similar accusations against former President Donald Trump last November,” reports Sara Dorn.

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center accused DeSantis and his state political action committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, of violating a provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act that prohibits federal candidates from using money raised by nonfederal committees.

The complaint cites a New York Times report published last week outlining DeSantis’ campaign plans for the upcoming election, including those of the super-PAC Never Back Down, which told the paper it planned to spend $200 million on DeSantis’ bid, including “$80 million to be transferred from an old DeSantis state political account.”

Typically, state elected officials who want to run for federal office can sever their ties with their state political action committees before engaging in a federal campaign to circumvent the federal campaign finance laws the Campaign Legal Center claims DeSantis violated.

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Joni Ernst Reacts To Biden-McCarthy Debt Limit Deal, Urges Biden To Forego 2024

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) joins “Forbes Eye on Iowa” to discuss her upcoming Roast and Ride event, the 2024 election, the debt-limit deal and student-loan forgiveness.

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Jamie Dimon For President? Billionaire Bill Ackman Wants JPMorgan CEO To Face Off Against Biden.

“Bill Ackman—the billionaire CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund—posted a lengthy tweet Wednesday afternoon urging JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to run for president as a Democrat in 2024, after the longtime bank executive declined to rule out a future bid for public office earlier this morning,” reports Katherine Hamilton.

Ackman called Dimon “one of the world’s most respected business leaders,” and argued his business-friendly outlook, along with his support for social programs, would make him a stronger presidential candidate than top contenders Joe Biden or Donald Trump.

He went on to argue Dimon could help manage the U.S.’ nearly $32 trillion debt, and is respected by people on all ends of the political spectrum.

The tweet came hours after Dimon said during an interview with Bloomberg “maybe one day I’ll serve my country in one capacity or another,” after being asked if he would consider running for public office—but he didn’t say what public office he’d run for, or when.

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Tracking Trump

Forbes continues to update “Tracking Trump: The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.”

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Across Forbes

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Quiz

Which of the following is not the name of a known TikTok program?

A. Operation Mollify

B. Creator Fund

C. Project Clover

D. Project Texas

Check if you got it right here.