Trump asks Supreme Court to pause TikTok ban, while Biden says app poses ‘grave’ threat

CNN — President-elect Donald Trump urged the Supreme Court to pause a controversial ban on TikTok that is set to take effect next month, telling the justices in a legal filing Friday that a delay would allow his administration to “pursue a negotiated resolution.” Trump’s request for a delay in implementing the ban puts him at odds with the Biden administration, which defended the law in its own brief Friday, warning of “grave” national security concerns about TikTok’s continued operation in the US. Trump suggested the court pause the ban’s effective date “to allow his incoming administration to pursue a negotiated resolution that could prevent a nationwide shutdown of TikTok, thus preserving the First Amendment rights of tens of millions of Americans, while also addressing the government’s national security concerns.” The incoming president has sent mixed signals in the past about his views on TikTok but most recently vowed to “save” the platform. “There are valid concerns that the act may set a dangerous global precedent by exercising the extraordinary power to shut down an entire social-media platform based, in large part, on concerns about disfavored speech on that platform.” Biden and ex-Trump officials back ban Earlier Friday, President Joe Biden’s administration and a bipartisan group of ex-government officials — including some who once worked for Trump — urged the Supreme Court to uphold the ban on TikTok, claiming that the platform’s ties to China pose a “grave” threat to American security. But, he argued Friday, the “unfortunate timing” of the law’s effective date “interferes” with his ability to “manage the United States’ foreign policy and to pursue a resolution to both protect national security and save a social-media platform that provides a popular vehicle for 170 million Americans to exercise their core First Amendment rights.” Delaying the law’s effective date, Trump said, could “obviate the need for this court to decide the historically challenging First Amendment question.” Among the former Trump officials who filed legal briefs Friday supporting the Biden administration’s position and the TikTok ban were Jeff Sessions, Trump’s first attorney general, and Ajit Pai, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2017 to 2021.