"By flaunting the law so publicly, I think the president is trying to send a message that he is quite literally beyond the reach of the courts, beyond the reach of Congress, beyond the reach of the rule of law. And we want to make sure that he isn't."
"Two years ago, Congress passed a law to push TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to hand over control of the app's U.S. business to investors outside of China. A bipartisan majority of lawmakers worried about the Chinese government using TikTok for mass data collection, or pushing disinformation and propaganda."
"Last year, after an emergency hearing, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law. Soon after, Trump directed his attorney general, Pam Bondi, not to follow the law, which also required the Justice Department to conduct investigations. DOJ took no public action to investigate."
The Public Integrity Project filed a federal lawsuit against President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleging they violated legislation requiring TikTok's parent company ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations to non-Chinese investors. Congress passed the law citing national security concerns about potential Chinese government data collection and propaganda through the platform. Trump granted five extensions instead of enforcing divestiture, and directed the Justice Department not to investigate, contrary to legal requirements. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law last year. The lawsuit argues the administration is operating beyond the rule of law by publicly flouting the statute and approving a partial sale to Trump-aligned businessmen.
#tiktok-divestiture #presidential-authority #rule-of-law #national-security #government-accountability
Read at www.npr.org
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