Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is putting together an investor group to try to buy TikTok, he told CNBC on Thursday.

His comment comes just a day after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would give the short-video app's Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the U.S. assets or face a ban.

TikTok had called the bill a "ban" and urged senators to listen to their constituents before taking any action.

"I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold," Mnuchin told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday. "It's a great business and I'm going to put together a group to buy TikTok," he said.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said on Wednesday that the company will exercise its legal rights to prevent a ban.

  - Reuters