Senate Intel Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) on Sunday called for Chinese-controlled TikTok to be banned in the U.S., saying the company poses a national security threat.

Warner made the remarks during an interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC News’s “This Week” while discussing the communist nation.

“National security is not simply about guns and ships and tanks anymore. It is about technology competition. It’s about who’s going to win the struggle around artificial intelligence, quantum computing, synthetic biology,” Warner said. “It’s one of the reasons why I put together a bipartisan piece of legislation, seven Democrats, seven Republicans, the president supports and I’ve got interest from the Speaker on making sure Chinese and other technology companies that pose national security risks like TikTok, that we give the Secretary of Commerce the tools to either require a divesture or frankly even ban them.”

“And just very quickly, do you think TikTok should be banned?” Raddatz asked.

“Absolutely,” Warner responded. “Literally 100 million Americans are on TikTok an average of 90 minutes a day. That data is residing in China no matter what TikTok says, and the truth is TikTok can be used as a propaganda mechanism for the Communist Party of China. That I believe is a national security concern.”

“What we don’t — what we don’t — what we need though is a rules-based approach that doesn’t simply single out a single application because it was Huawei, the Chinese telecom company earlier, TikTok today. There will be other technology applications,” he added. “We need a rules-based approach that will look at this foreign-based technology from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and we’ve got to have the tools to make sure that we can take them down.”

WATCH:

.@MarthaRaddatz: “Do you think TikTok should be banned?”

Senate Intelligence Committee chair Mark Warner: “Absolutely…TikTok can be used as a propaganda mechanism for the Community Party of China. That, I believe, is a national security concern.” https://t.co/KNf4mVLxyB pic.twitter.com/uYviCys2y2

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 12, 2023

TRANSCRIPT:

MARTHA RADDATZ: This week, we heard China’s President Xi level very direct criticism to the U.S., something he rarely does.

How concerned are you about our relationship with China?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): We should be concerned. We’re in enormous competition with China. National security, we had all the intelligence leaders before our committee this week.

National security is not simply about guns and ships and tanks anymore. It is about technology competition. It’s about who’s going to win the struggle around artificial intelligence, quantum computing, synthetic biology.

It’s one of the reasons why I put together a bipartisan piece of legislation, seven Democrats, seven Republicans, the president supports and I’ve got interest from the speaker on making sure Chinese and other technology companies that pose national security risks like TikTok, that we give the secretary of commerce the tools to either require a divesture or frankly even ban them.

We’ve seen, for example, TikTok already banned in India. We’ve seen the Canadian government, the EU urge taking that off phones in their systems.

We’ve got this technology competition which China, and they have been stealing our intellectual property at the rate of $500 billion a year. We have to be worried.

China’s a great country. Our beef is with the communist party. It’s not with the Chinese people. But Xi Jinping, we should not underestimate both his aggressiveness and his authoritarian regime.

RADDATZ: And just very quickly, do you think TikTok should be banned?

WARNER: Absolutely. I, you know, this is a — literally 100 million Americans are on TikTok an average of 90 minutes a day. That data is residing in China no matter what TikTok says, and the truth is TikTok can be used as a propaganda mechanism for the Communist Party of China. That I believe is a national security concern.

What we don’t — what we don’t — what we need though is a rules-based approach that doesn’t simply single out a single application because it was Huawei, the Chinese telecom company earlier, TikTok today. There will be other technology applications.

We need a rules-based approach that will look at this foreign-based technology from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and say —

RADDATZ: Okay, thanks, Senator.

WARNER: — we’ve got to have the tools to make sure that we can take them down.

RADDATZ: Okay. Thanks very much, Senator, for joining us this morning.

WARNER: Thank you.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that there would be no bailout for the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank.

Appearing on CBS News’s “Face The Nation” with host Margaret Brennan, Yellen said the government would assist regulators in helping protect depositors but made clear that there would be no federal bailout for the major tech bank. 

“Let me be clear that during the financial crisis, there were investors and owners of systemic large banks that were bailed out,” Yellen told Brennan when asked whether the U.S. had ruled out a bailout. “And the reforms that have been put in place means that we’re not going to do that again. But we are concerned about depositors and are focused on trying to meet their needs.” 

Asked whether the government might bail out banks as it did during the 2008 crisis, @SecYellen says, “We’re not going to do that again.” But she adds, “We are concerned about depositors and are focused on trying to meet their needs.” pic.twitter.com/sg5WBFWfPj

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 12, 2023

Brennan noted that roughly 85% of the accounts were uninsured and asked Yellen whether she thought depositors should be paid back in full.

Yellen said she wouldn’t disclose specific details but said that the government is “very aware of the problems that depositors will have, many of them are small businesses that employ people across the country. And of course, this is a significant concern, and working with regulators to try to address these concerns.”

Silicon Valley Bank announced a $1.75 billion share sale on Wednesday after the financial institution suffered heavy losses from liquidating a $21 billion bond portfolio, raising concerns among venture capital firms and startups with ties to the company about the safety of their assets. SVB, the 16th-largest bank in the United States and the largest in Silicon Valley, lends to nearly half of the venture-backed technology and healthcare companies.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said on Friday that SVB was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. Insured depositors will have access to funds by Monday morning, according to a press release from the government-backed firm, while uninsured depositors can expect an advance dividend in the next week. 

“At the time of closing, the amount of deposits in excess of the insurance limits was undetermined,” the FDIC said. “The amount of uninsured deposits will be determined once the FDIC obtains additional information from the bank and customers.”

Fox Business Network senior correspondent Charles Gasparino reported depositors would initially receive 30 to 50% of their money on Monday, and “most of the rest” in time, citing sources familiar with the matter. 

The implosion of SVB would mark the largest bank failure since Washington Mutual collapsed in late 2008, according to Axios.

With regard to potential failures at other banks, Yellen argued that one bank’s troubles don’t necessarily mean similar problems for another. She said “supervision and regulation” will help prevent “contagion.” 

“What I do want to do is emphasize that the American banking system is really safe and well-capitalized, it’s resilient,” Yellen stated. “In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, unique controls were put in place, better capital and liquidity supervision, and it was tested during the early days of the pandemic, and proved its resilience so Americans can have confidence in the safety and soundness of our banking system,” she argued. 

The administrations of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama previously introduced government bailouts for commercial and investment banks during the Great Recession of 2008, during which financial institutions were overexposed to subprime mortgages.

Ben Zeisloft contributed to this report.