United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday reaffirmed that a potential deal to spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations remains a possibility, despite political pushback and delays.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump told reporters, “We have a deal with some very good people, some very rich companies that would do a great job with it, but we’re going to have to wait and see what’s going to happen with China. It’s on the table, very much.”

The proposed agreement would see TikTok’s U.S. business—currently owned by China-based ByteDance—transformed into a separate, U.S.-headquartered entity with majority ownership by American investors. However, the plan has stirred debate in Congress, where several lawmakers have questioned its legality and effectiveness.

Senators Mark Warner and Ed Markey, both Democrats, argue that Trump lacks the authority to extend deadlines for divestment. Warner also warned that the reported terms of the deal would fail to meet existing legal standards. On Wednesday, Markey attempted to push legislation extending the divestment deadline to October, but the measure was blocked in the Senate.

The current deadline, now set for June 19, was extended last week by Trump. Without a deal by then, TikTok faces a nationwide ban in the United States, where it has over 170 million users. This is the third delay in enforcing the law initially scheduled to take effect in January.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, voiced strong opposition to any deal that leaves ties to China intact. “To any American who wants to invest in some half-assed TikTok deal, Congress will never protect you from going into business with Communist China,” Cotton warned.

A source close to ByteDance’s U.S. investors told Reuters that negotiations are ongoing, but acknowledged that progress hinges on broader U.S.-China trade tensions, including the tariff dispute.

TikTok did not comment on the matter. Meanwhile, one of the biggest hurdles to any agreement remains approval from Beijing, which tightly controls technology exports.

In January, after Trump’s return to office, the Justice Department informed Apple and Google that it would not enforce the TikTok ban, prompting the tech giants to reinstate the app for new downloads in their app stores.