President Trump’s plan to save TikTok is putting him at a crossroads with some Republicans as questions mount over the legality of delaying a ban on the app.
Trump signed an executive order
Monday giving TikTok an additional 75 days before a law banning the popular video-sharing platform takes effect.
Trump instructed his attorney general not to enforce the law so his administration can “determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans.”
Former President Biden said he wouldn’t enforce the ban during the final days in the White House, but the app still shut down for more than 12 hours beginning Saturday night — then came back online Sunday following Trump’s announcement that he planned to delay the ban.
Some China hawks in Congress are already breaking from the newly inaugurated president on the issue, standing firm that the app should not be available in the U.S. without an official divestiture deal on the table.
“We commend Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft for following the law and halting operations with ByteDance and TikTok, and we encourage other companies to do the same,” Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) wrote in a statement Sunday.
“The law, after all, risks ruinous bankruptcy for any company who violates it,” they added.
Trump’s shifted plans on TikTok has created one of the earliest disagreements between the president and members of his party on a highly polarizing issue.
In his first term, the president sometimes clashed with Republican defectors, whether it be in public or online spaces.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) also questioned the legality of a potential executive order delaying the ban Monday.
“I’m not sure what the legal authority is for a president to issue an executive order down to a law that was just passed and upheld by the Supreme Court of United States,” Cramer told CNN’s Manu Raju, according to a post on the social platform X.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is launching “a crypto task force.” In a Tuesday press release, the SEC described the task force as “dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.” The agency also said that the SEC, alongside the task force, will work “to set the SEC on a sensible regulatory path that respects the bounds of the law.” SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce will …
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) urged Apple to officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico on its mapping platform following President Trump’s Monday executive order declaring the land mass the Gulf of America. “Hey @tim_cook, just noticed Apple Maps still calls it the Gulf of Mexico. Sent a report through the app, but thought you’d want to know,” Crenshaw wrote in a Tuesday post on X tagging the company’s CEO. …
Comedian Jon Stewart on Monday criticized the appearance of tech moguls at President Trump’s inauguration. “Yes, taking the place of seats normally reserved for Democratic or Republican governors, sat Zuck, Bezos, Tim Cook, Elon, Tic Tac guy, Google guy, the six guys who control maybe 20 percent of the world’s wealth and 100 percent of your nudes,” Stewart said of the inauguration on “The Daily Show.” “Shouldn’t …
Elon Musk responded to criticism of his gesture during a speech Monday after the inauguration, saying those comparing it to a Nazi salute were deploying “dirty tricks.” “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks,” Musk wrote on the social platform X, responding to a post describing the “salute hoax” as “just another part of the ‘dirty tricks campaign.’” “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” Musk added, with …
News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
Trump repeals Biden AI executive order
President Trump repealed an executive order issued by former President Biden that sought to curb the potential risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI), TechCrunch reported
.
Lina Khan to step down in coming weeks
Lina Khan, who led the Biden administration’s aggressive antitrust push as Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair, plans to step down from the agency in the coming weeks, Reuters reported
.
On Our Radar
Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:
The House Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing titled “Unconstrained Actors: Assessing Global Cyber Threats,” on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EST.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy confirmed on Monday he will not serve on President Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) commission, leaving Tesla CEO Elon Musk to singularly lead the advisory group. “It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE,” Ramaswamy wrote Monday on the social platform X. “I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed …
Russia warned President Trump on Tuesday against seizing the Panama Canal, after he reiterated his intent to take control of the strategic waterway … Read more
President Trump is expected to attend an inaugural prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, meet with Republican leaders, and continue to work … Read more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is launching
“a crypto task force.”
In a Tuesday press release, the SEC described the task force as “dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.” The agency also said that the SEC, alongside the task force, will work together “to set the SEC on a sensible regulatory path that respects the bounds of the law.”
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce will head the task force, according to the release. Pierce had been previously floated as possibly following former Biden administration SEC Chair Gary Gensler in his role amid another
Trump administration.
“This undertaking will take time, patience, and much hard work. It will succeed only if the Task Force has input from a wide range of investors, industry participants, academics, and other interested parties,” Peirce said in the release.
“We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the public to foster a regulatory environment that protects investors, facilitates capital formation, fosters market integrity, and supports innovation,” she added.
Trump, who had previously called crypto
a “scam,” embraced it during his latest campaign and became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets. His donors could donate to his
campaign via its joint fundraising committees, with any cryptocurrency accepted through the Coinbase Commerce product.
Trump’s nominee for
SEC chair, Paul Atkins, is pro-crypto, with Trump saying in a Truth Social post last month that Atkins “recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”
In addition to the frigid temperatures, frosty car windows
, and air that hurts your lungs, you may have also noticed something overhead: unusually loud planes
.
The reason for this, largely, comes down to air density, Nexstar chief meteorologist Brian James explains.
Cold air, like many of us are experiencing now, is denser than warm air, meaning there is less space between the air molecules. In warm air, those molecules “move around more freely and have more wiggle room between each other,” James says. That wiggle room also allows warmer air to hold more moisture.
“But when the air is really cold, there’s very little room for water vapor (which is why a very cold air mass is also usually a really dry air mass, too),” James explains. “That means, when something makes a sound, the soundwaves can travel farther in the colder air because the higher-density of the cold air allows the soundwaves to travel farther without degrading (or becoming quieter).”
As a plane passes overhead, the cold air allows the sound of its engine to travel down to the ground “without losing nearly as much of the sound as it would in warmer air,” he adds. Without losing any sound, an overhead plane can sound louder to our ears.
The colder the air, the louder the jet can sound.
Airport officials
have previously warned nearby residents of potentially loud jets in cold weather.
During a cold snap in 2019, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission said
frigid temperatures could cause airplanes to be heard “in a different way.” Derek Anderson, the acoustics and data analysis coordinator at the Metropolitan Airports Commission, also noted that a lack of leaves and grass on the ground mixed with high winds could also cause the sound to travel further.
While the cold weather may not be great for us on the ground, the commission said cold temperatures can lead “to higher performance by jet aircraft.”
“Higher air density improves acceleration, reduces runway lengths needed during take-off, and increases lift and altitude gained as aircraft fly away from the airport,” the commission explained.
The frigid cold weather will be sticking around for a bit yet. Temperatures from the upper Plains states through the Midwest and into the Ohio Valley are expected to see highs only in the 10s and 20s on Wednesday, the National Weather Service forecast shows
. Those areas could reach into the 30s by Friday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the bordering nation is crucial to President Trump’s “golden age” during a Tuesday press conference
in Montebello, Quebec.
“The President has said that he wants usher in a golden age for the United States. That will require more steel and aluminum, more critical minerals, more reliable and affordable energy, more of everything to run the U.S. economy full steam ahead,” Trudeau told reporters.
He pointed out those resources could be sourced from Canada, as opposed to buying them from Venezuela, China or Russia.
“Canada is a safe, secure and reliable partner in an uncertain world.”
Trump declared he would usher in a “golden age”
for America during his inaugural address
. While he did not sign
any executive actions involving tariffs during his first day in office, he warned that they could be expected in early February.
“We are thinking in terms of 25 percent on Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing vast numbers of people … to come in, and fentanyl to come in,” Trump said Monday, when asked while signing executive orders.
However, both countries have maintained that they are not a threat to the U.S. economy or its citizens and have pushed back on Trump’s proposed tariffs
on imported goods, which they say would be detrimental for American families and product affordability.
Trudeau also noted his administration’s $1 billion comprehensive plan to address the trafficking of fentanyl through border security measures in an effort to ease Trump’s concerns.
The Canadian prime minister recently agreed to resign
from his post once a new party leader was named but affirmed the nation would not be forced into a deficient trade relationship with the U.S.
“Of course, if the president does choose to proceed with tariffs on Canada, Canada will respond. Everything is on the table,” Trudeau stated.
Canada and the U.S. are each other’s largest trade partners, and the prime minister said he is looking forward to continuing a mutually beneficial relationship.
“We are strongest when we work together, and I look forward to working with President Trump, his administration, members of the United States Congress, and officials at the state and local levels to deliver prosperity for our peoples – while protecting and defending the interests of Canadians,” Trudeau said in a statement
congratulating Trump on his inauguration.
Former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) criticized President Trump for pardoning roughly 1,500
people who were arrested during the Jan, 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, including some who harmed police. At least 600 insurrectionists were formally accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement.
“No one should excuse violence. And particularly violence against police officers,” McConnell told Semafor
in an article published Tuesday.
He echoed Vice President Vance’s remarks in a “Fox News Sunday
” interview earlier this month, during which he said only those who “protested peacefully” should be pardoned, adding “if you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”
McConnell’s comments come months after he stepped down from Senate leadership, however fellow GOP members still say his voice will be influential for the party in the new legislative cycle.
“I think his influence is real, and his voice will matter. When he speaks, people will listen,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told The Hill in previous comments
.
McConnell’s open critiques of one of Trump’s first decisions while in office signal his willingness to publicly oppose the GOP leader. Very few Republicans have vocalized any discontent
with his executive actions but instead chose to shine a light on President Biden’s decision to pardon family members in the last hour of his term.
The new commander-in-chief said the preemptive pardons made the outgoing Democrat “look very guilty
.”
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) announced on Tuesday that he has filed a statement of interest
for an Arizona gubernatorial bid ahead of the 2026 election.
“Arizona has a bright future but will need strong leadership to reach its full potential. I have been honored to serve Arizona at the state and federal levels and will bring my experience home to my native state to help it fulfill its tremendous capacity,” Biggs said in a statement posted on X.
“I have a firm understanding of what the state needs to thrive,” he continued. “I look forward to conversing with my fellow Arizonans as I consider this weighty decision.”
Biggs, a member of the House Freedom Caucus who has represented Arizona’s 5th Congressional District since 2017, is one of the first major names to formerly file a statement of interest in the race.
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson, who ran for the job in 2022 and lost to Kari Lake, is another name who might enter the race again. President Trump endorsed Taylor Robson while in Phoenix last month despite the fact that she hadn’t announced a bid at the time.
Taylor Robson, however, did little to shake off the speculation from Trump’s remarks, writing in a post on X
: “President @realDonaldTrump
is a president for all Americans. I am beyond honored to have his support. Thank you Mr. President for everything you do for our country and for the great State of Arizona.”
Republicans see Arizona as a potential pickup opportunity after Lake lost to Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) in the 2022 general election.
Hobbs is up for reelection next year, and Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) is reportedly considering a run himself.
Trump beat former Vice President Harris in the state by 5.5 points in November.
Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the anti-government group the Oath Keepers, said it was a “good day for America” when President Trump pardoned him and other Jan. 6 defendants
on Monday.
“I think it’s a good day for America that all the wrongs are being undone,” he told News4.
“None of them should have been here in the first place.”
Rhodes stood outside the Washington, D.C. jail waiting for more people to be released.
“We’re here to welcome them,” he said.
Rhodes, the former leader of the Proud Boys, told the outlet that he was released from a federal correctional facility in Maryland late Monday after Trump issued pardons to more than 1,000 people who stormed the Capitol four years ago.
On his first day in office after his inauguration ceremony, Trump granted
“full, complete and unconditional” pardons for nearly all of the rioters.
“What they’ve done to these people is outrageous,” Trump said while signing executive orders in the Oval Office on Monday.
Rhodes was serving an 18-year prison term. He was one of the defendants that had their sentences commuted to time served.
The federal judge who oversaw Rhodes’ case said recently the idea of him being absolved of his actions was “frightening.”
Supporters of Jan. 6 rioters stood outside in freezing temperatures overnight to wait for defendants to be released, News4 reported. James Lee Bright, an attorney for Rhodes, said they were “deeply thankful”
that Trump commuted his sentence but ultimately believe he will later be pardoned or be successful in his appeal of his sedition conviction.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Tuesday said it was a “bad idea” for President Trump to pardon individuals who were convicted of assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Anybody who was convicted of assault on a police officer, I just can’t get there at all. I think it was a bad idea,” Tillis told a reporter for Spectrum News.
But Tillis defended Trump’s pardon of Jan. 6 protesters who entered the Capitol illegally but didn’t assault police or destroy property.
“Many of them probably was the right thing to do. They made a bad a bad choice,” he said.
But Tillis said Trump’s sweeping pardons and sentence commutations for more than 1,500 people convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes must be viewed in the context of former President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter, who was convicted on tax- and gun-related charges, and who pardoned five family members minutes before Trump was sworn in as president.
Tillis on that point echoed Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), who told reporters Tuesday that Biden had “opened the door on this.”
“We said all along that Biden opened the door on this,” he said while walking to his office, followed by several television crews.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told a reporter for CNN Tuesday that she would be disappointed if Trump pardoned people convicted of assaulting police but said she would study the full extent of his pardons.
She also cited Biden’s pardons of Hunter Biden and five family members he preemptively pardoned, including his brother James, moments before Trump was sworn into office.
Newly sworn-in Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hitting the ground running Tuesday with meetings with his counterparts in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad, which includes India, Australia and Japan, a bloc formed to counter Chinese clout in the Indo-Pacific.
The meeting is set to take place Tuesday afternoon at 2:45 p.m. ET at the State Department, after Rubio became President Trump’s first confirmed Cabinet secretary on Monday, receiving unanimous support
in the Senate.
His public schedule also includes individual meetings with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi.
Rubio’s first official engagement with the Quad foreign ministers signals the Trump administration’s focus on the alliance that first began in 2007, as well as broader efforts to combat China.
“Today we’ll have a meeting with the Quad, with foreign ministers from Australia and India and Japan, to reaffirm the importance of working with allies across the world on the things that are important to America and Americans, and that’s what I’m focused on moving forward,” Rubio told NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday morning.
All the Quad foreign ministers were in attendance at President Trump’s inauguration at the Capitol Monday and were seated close to the front.
“Our attendance this week and close cooperation is a demonstration of our collective commitment to supporting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” Wong wrote on X.
Former President Biden sought to reinvigorate the Quad alliance during his presidency to create a counterbalance to China in the Indo-Pacific. Unlike Trump, Biden has long trumpeted alliances as crucial to America’s strength around the world.
The leaders of the Quad countries met with Biden in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, in September last year.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) on Monday asked President Trump to examine congestion pricing in Manhattan.
“As you begin your second term as President, I welcome any opportunity to work with you and your Administration where we can find common ground. One area where I believe our priorities align is congestion pricing,” aletter from Murphy reads
.
The Democrat told Trump the program did not receive enough federal scrutiny last year.
A congestion pricing plan
detailed in spring 2024 would have charged passenger vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street $15. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said in June the plan was delayed, also stating that “a $15 charge may not mean a lot to someone who has the means, but it can break the budget of a working- or middle-class household.”
The plan was later revived only days
after Trump’s election, with congestion pricing
set to launch in January but at $9 for most vehicles. The Biden administration approved the plan with the lower toll.
“By getting congestion pricing underway and fully supporting the [Metropolitan Transport Authority] capital plan, we’ll unclog our streets, reduce pollution and deliver better public transit for millions of New Yorkers,” Hochul said in November.
Trump has openly opposed the plan, and Republicans in New York have called on him to end it.
Murphy asked for the program’s review.
“I am attaching a letter on behalf of New Jersey requesting that New York’s congestion pricing scheme receive the close look it deserved but did not receive from the federal government last year,” Murphy said in his Monday letter. “I hope that you will ensure that this request receives prompt attention from the relevant officials within your Administration.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House, Hochul’s press office, New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s (D) press office and the Metropolitan Transport Authority for comment.
