On Wednesday, Ms. Catz, who has given more than $100,000 to Mr. Trump’s re-election, spoke with Attorney General William P. Barr about the deal, said two people with knowledge of the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Much about the proposal also remains fluid. ByteDance, Oracle and the government are still discussing how any arrangement would protect TikTok’s user data from China and who exactly would have corporate control of the service, said the people familiar with the discussions.
To alleviate concerns, one person said, TikTok’s board in the United States would include only government-approved members, including one independent member with expertise in data security. Oracle would also be able to review the app’s source code and subsequent updates for security vulnerabilities, the person said.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said the administration was in the midst of “a deep review process.”
“All that’s being looked at. I don’t want to speak for anybody. It’s a very confidential process, but security is paramount, with respect to information leaking out to China, and ownership is important,” Mr. Kudlow said.
Others in Washington expressed concerns about the way the White House had pursued the company.
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat of Virginia who is a prominent skeptic of Chinese technology companies, said in a speech on Wednesday that scrutiny of technology companies that could pose a risk “must be done honestly.” He said that the “haphazard actions on TikTok fail that test and will only invite retaliation against American companies.”
Ana Swanson and David McCabe reported from Washington, and Lauren Hirsch from New York. Edward Wong contributed reporting from Washington.
