'I think he'll fail': Legal expert says Trump backed into a corner on TikTok
Donald Trump has been backed into a corner on TikTok before he's even entered office, according to a legal expert.
Congress has banned the Chinese-owned social media app effective Sunday if the company cannot find a U.S. buyer, and the president-elect's options are limited after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law.
"The Congress has passed this law, presidents cannot just disregard them," legal expert Harry Litman told MSNBC. "There's a possibility of saying a qualified divestiture, and, you know, Trump has been had a kind of casual relationship with the truth for years, but he would have to make a proclamation to Congress that, in essence, would be a lie. There's no possibility come Monday that there is a buyer on the horizon, and they're just working out the details. Bytedance itself and China say, 'We'll never sell.' He could try to issue a different executive order, saying, 'I just declare that this is not enforced, but there's very strong law there saying, especially in the face of a countermand by Congress, you can't do it, and I think he'll be sued immediately. So I know he thinks of himself. Maybe the country does, as the great dealmaker coming in to save the day, but his legal restrictions and this is what we're watching as he takes office, really don't give him a lot of operating room."
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President Joe Biden has said he would not enforce the ban on his last day in office, kicking the decision to Trump on Monday, when he takes the oath of office, and Litman said the matter would be an early test for the president-elect's commitment to law and order.
"It is really a test of how brazen and indifferent to legal prohibitions he's going to be, which is a much broader theme going forward," Litman said. "I think the qualified divestiture provision, meaning there's somebody on the on the horizon who's ready to buy it, that just can't happen. Truthfully, nobody will step forward, so if he tries to do something, it'll be the sort of bully through [an order], 'I hereby suspend,' and that will engage the law that I just talked about, about executive orders trying to countermand Congress."
"My best guess is he tries to do something because it's so much about his deal-making prowess," Litman added. "Plus, he's so cozy now with the CEO of TikTok, but I think he'll fail."
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