Trump’s choose for nationwide safety adviser, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, mentioned in an interview on Wednesday that the president-elect is exploring choices to “protect” TikTok.
Waltz made the remark when Fox Information anchor Bret Baier requested him a few report from The Washington Submit that mentioned Trump was contemplating an govt order to droop enforcement of a federal regulation that might ban the favored platform nationwide by Sunday.
Final week, the Supreme Courtroom heard oral arguments in a authorized problem to the statute introduced by TikTok, its China-based guardian firm ByteDance, and customers of the app. The Justices appeared more likely to uphold the regulation, which requires ByteDance to divest TikTok on nationwide safety grounds or face a ban in one in every of its greatest markets.
“If the Supreme Courtroom comes out with a ruling in favor of the regulation, President Trump has been very clear: Primary, TikTok is a superb platform that many Individuals use and has been nice for his marketing campaign and getting his message out. However quantity two, he’s going to guard their knowledge,” Waltz mentioned.
“He’s a deal maker. I don’t need to get forward of our govt orders, however we’re going to create this area to place that deal in place,” he added.
Individually on Wednesday, Pam Bondi, Trump’s choose for lawyer basic, dodged a query throughout a Senate listening to on whether or not she’d uphold a TikTok ban.
Trump has reversed his place on the favored app, having tried to ban it throughout his first time period in workplace over nationwide safety considerations. He joined TikTok throughout his 2024 presidential marketing campaign and his workforce used it to attach with youthful voters, particularly male voters, by pushing content material that was typically macho and geared toward going viral. He pledged to “save TikTok” in the course of the marketing campaign and has credited the platform with serving to him win extra youth votes.
