Trump says there 'may or may not' be national security concerns regarding Google's China dealings, 2 days after the White House said there was nothing to worry about
- Donald Trump tweeted Friday that there "may or may not" be national security concerns pertaining to Google and its relationship with China.
- Trump's treasury secretary said earlier this week that the White House had not found any evidence that Google's work with the Chinese government was cause for concern.
- This month, tech billionaire and Trump supporter Peter Thiel raised concerns about Google's "seemingly treasonous" links with China, and demanded it be investigated.
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President Donald Trump has revived national security concerns about the relationship between Google and China, just two days after a White House cabinet official said publicly there was no evidence of anything in the companies' working relationship that was cause for concern.
Trump tweeted Friday that there "may or may not" be national security concerns regarding the tech company and the Chinese government. It's not clear what caused Trump to revive the conversation on the matter, considering that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that there was nothing to be concerned about after he and the president "did diligence" on the matter.
"If there is a problem, we will find out about it," Trump wrote on Twitter. "I sincerely hope there is not!!!"
Earlier this month, tech billionaire and Trump supporter Peter Thiel criticized Google for "seemingly treasonous" connections with the Chinese military. He also suggested that the FBI and the CIA investigate Google "in a not excessively gentle manner" about its work with China.
Trump followed Thiel's comments with a tweet saying his administration would "take a look" into Google's dealings with China. However, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview Wednesday that the White House was "not aware of any areas where Google is working with the Chinese government in any way that raises concern."
Google has worked with China in the past to build a censored search engine, a controversial project called "Project Dragonfly." However, Google confirmed this month it had "terminated" the project, which had not been launched, putting the lid on something the company had long refused to give a definitive answer about.
Google declined to comment to Business Insider about Trump's tweet Friday.