The top executive at one of the nation's leading technology companies gave a quarter of a million dollars to a PAC supporting Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamHillicon Valley: Trump refuses to condemn QAnon | Twitter revises its policy, lets users share disputed article | Google sees foreign cyber threats Republicans increasingly seek distance from Trump Chairman: Senate Judiciary to vote on subpoena for Mark Zuckerberg MORE (R-S.C.) while he was brokering a deal between TikTok and a U.S.-based cloud computing company, according to a new report.
Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison donated $250,000 to the Security is Strength PAC, which is paying for ads supporting Graham in his reelection bid, The Verge reported.
The donation was reportedly made on Sept. 14, just days before Oracle announced it had been selected by social media company TikTok as its secure cloud technology provider.
TikTok has faced criticism from some U.S. lawmakers over its ties to the Chinese government, and Graham was pivotal in helping secure the deal with a U.S.-based company, the outlet reported.
“If TikTok is saved, you can thank me,” Graham said at the time.
Graham is currently in the home stretch of a brutal fundraising fight against Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison, who has raised the most money in the history of any Senate campaign.
"My opponent will raise $100 million in the state of South Carolina,” Graham said in September. “The most money ever spent in the history of the state on a Senate race in this state was by me in 2014 when I spent $13 million.”
ChimpScanner on October 17th, 2020 at 19:02 UTC »
This really isn't surprising considering tobacco companies literally "lobbied" to be able sell people products that will kill them, and how pharmaceutical companies also helped cause the opiod pandemic.
Greenfieldfox on October 17th, 2020 at 19:00 UTC »
Come on South Carolina. This dude is embarrassingly corrupt.
BarryTrotz86 on October 17th, 2020 at 18:40 UTC »
I love how the US is totally cool with bribery.