President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay enforcement of the law banning TikTok until after he takes office. Mr. Trump’s lawyer, D. John Sauer, wrote in a court brief that the future president wants the opportunity to find a solution to the problem “through political means.”
The law mandating the ban or sale of TikTok is scheduled to go into effect on January 19, 2025, the day before President Trump’s inauguration. The brief says the ban date was “unfortunately ill-timed” and calls for the next president to do more to reach an agreement with TikTok. TikTok’s legal team cited similar concerns in its motion to delay the ban. The brief also mentions Trump’s “trading” experience and his social media platform “Truth Social.”
“Only President Trump has the impeccable deal-making expertise, electoral authority, and political will to negotiate a resolution that preserves the platform while addressing the national security concerns the administration has expressed. — President Trump himself has acknowledged that,” Sauer wrote.
President Trump’s stance on TikTok is vastly different from his stance during his first term, when he called for a ban on the app in 2020. Trump also said he believed Microsoft “could put together a good deal,” echoing the Treasury Department’s intentions. “The United States gets a lot of money,” he said, without explaining exactly how such a deal would work.
President Trump reversed his views on banning TikTok during his second campaign. He told CNBC’s Squawk Box in March that banning TikTok would “make Facebook even bigger. I think Facebook, like much of the media, is the enemy of the people.”
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the ban on January 10th.
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