President-elect Trump asked the Supreme Court to delay the deadline for a potential TikTok ban, which is scheduled for the day before his inauguration.
The court has agreed to hear TikTok’s challenge to the potential ban on an expedited schedule, however Trump told the justices that delaying the law until he returns to the White House could obviate the need for the court to weigh in.
“President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns,” wrote D. John Sauer, one of Trump’s personal appellate attorneys. Sauer is Trump’s nominee for U.S. solicitor general, which would have him take over managing the government’s defense of the ban from the Biden administration. “In light of these interests—including, most importantly, his overarching responsibility for the United States’ national security and foreign policy—President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture, and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office,” Sauer wrote.During the campaign, Trump voiced opposition to the law, which requires TikTok’s China-based parent company to divest from the app or face a ban by Jan. 19, and vowed to “save TikTok.” However, the president-elect has offered few details about his plans to protect the app since winning the election. The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Jan. 10 on TikTok’s First Amendment challenge to the new law, giving the justices an opportunity to weigh in before the ban potentially goes into effect. Trump said he takes no position on the merits of the First Amendment issue but called it a “historically challenging” question. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) told CNN Friday night that President-elect Donald Trump’s pivot on banning TikTok in the US is either a sign he has been compromised by lobbyists or that his presence on the app has stroked his ego. In either event, the Massachusetts Democrat called for the video-sharing platform to be banned unless its owner – Beijing-based ByteDance – divests and agrees to sell the app.
Earlier this year, a bipartisan bill supported by President Joe Biden was passed and signed. The statute gave ByteDance until Jan. 19 to offload TikTok or have it banned on American app stores.
On AC360, Auchincloss told guest host Jim Sciutto he did not buy Trump’s argument to the high court. Auchincloss concluded he believed Trump might be asking the court not to allow a TikTok ban because he had been told of his popularity on the platform’s servers. “With Donald Trump, it’s always some combination of two things, Jim. It’s one, flattery and inflating his ego,” he said. “And then number two is the soft corruption and sycophancy of his inner circle. Those two threads can intertwine and they can change American policy.”
I’d be willing to bet tha Jake Auchincloss has an enormous ego! It’s his kind who always accuses others, especially people in higher places than they, of having big egos!!! I suppose that makes those kind of people feel superior in some fashion!