President-elect Donald Trump told ABC News in an interview Saturday he is likely to grant TikTok a 90-day extension to avoid a ban in the United States.
The app is scheduled to be banned due to a bipartisan congressional law that ordered the platform to sever ties with China-based parent company ByteDance by Sunday.
Trump, who called for a TikTok ban during his first administration, has said in the last couple of months that the app shouldn’t be removed and told ABC News he is looking into his options to salvage it.
“I’m the one who is going to be calling the shots. Most likely, I’ll extend for 90 days,” he told ABC’s Rachel Scott. “You have the extension for 90 days as you probably know. I’ll do that until we figure something out.”
He did not provide further details on how an extension could be enacted.
The bipartisan law has a provision allowing an extension, but only provided that the three conditions are all met and certified by the president. The first condition is “a path to executing a qualified divestiture has been identified”; the second is “evidence of significant progress toward executing such qualified divestiture has been produced”; and the third condition is “the relevant binding legal agreements to enable execution of such qualified divestiture during the period of such extension,” according to the text of the law.
Jeffrey Fisher, the attorney for several TikTok creators, told the Supreme Court this month that the incoming president does not have that power under the law.
“As I understand the law, it’s 270 days unless extended, and once that time runs, I’m not sure you’re talking about an extension anymore,” Fisher told the high court about the Jan. 19 deadline.
During oral arguments, U.S. solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar was asked about this scenario but did not take a position, saying only that it remains an open “statutory interpretation” question.
Two of the justices — Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch — indicated Trump would have the power to extend the deadline by their reading, however the Supreme Court doesn’t immediately have a say on this issue.
Time is running out for U.S. TikTok users as the company said Friday it will “forced to go dark” on Sunday unless the White House gives a “definitive” statement about its future.
In response to the TikTok statement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Saturday that TikTok’s threat to go dark on Sunday is a “stunt.”
“We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them,” she said.
Aside from his plans on TikTok, the president-elect also previewed the executive actions he plans to take on day one in his interview with ABC News.
Trump said to expect a large focus on immigration and a rollback of Biden’s electric vehicle production mandates.
“We have to get them out and we’re prepared to do so, otherwise we’re not going to have a country,” Trump said of undocumented immigrants.
“And electric [vehicle] mandate, I think you’ll see that rapidly disappear. How ridiculous that was,” he added.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.
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