Summary
Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
Joe Biden announced $3bn in infrastructure investments in local communities across the country. Speaking in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Biden said: “Sadly too many communities across America face the loss of wealth, prosperity and possibilities that still reverberate today,” adding that his latest infrastructure project is will deliver “environmental justice by reconnecting disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods with new opportunities”.
The House of Representatives passed a bill that would require TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total nationwide ban. The vote was a landslide, with 352 Congress members voting in favor and only 65 against. TikTok responded to the House vote describing it as a “ban” on the social media platform, adding that it was “hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts”.
The White House said it is “glad” to see a bill move forward that would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the US. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the White House “will look to the Senate to take swift action” on the bill, adding that it “welcomes ongoing efforts to address the threats posed by certain technology services operating in the United States”.
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, chair of the Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions, said that he will introduce legislation that will establish a standard of 32-hour workweek in the US. In a statement on his legislation, Sanders said: “The financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street.”
The Georgia judge overseeing the election-interference case against Donald Trump and 14 defendants dismissed six of the charges in the wide-ranging indictment, saying they were not detailed enough. One of the 41 charges Trump and some of the co-defendants in the case were charged with was soliciting officials in Georgia to violate their oath of office. Those charges were dismissed.
Donald Trump is narrowly leading Joe Biden in a new national poll released a day after both candidates clinched their presidential nominations. The poll by USA Today/Suffolk University found Trump polling at 40% to Biden’s 38%.
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Bernie Sanders is set to introduce legislation to enact a 32-hour week with no loss in pay.
On Wednesday, Sanders, chair of the Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions, said that he will introduce legislation that will establish a standard of 32-hour workweek in the US.
In a statement on his legislation, Sanders said: “Moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea … The financial gains from the major advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology must benefit the working class, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street.”
“It is time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life,” he added.
Moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay is not a radical idea. It's time for working people to benefit from advancements in AI, automation, and new technology, not just corporate CEOs and wealthy stockholders on Wall Street. pic.twitter.com/O3vUwwH3sN
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 13, 2024
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Joe Biden delivered a speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during which he announced $3bn in infrastructure investments in local communities across the country.
Opening his speech, the president said: “The story of Bronzeville here in Milwaukee is one we see all across the country. Our interstate highway system laid out in the ’50s was a groundbreaking connection [of] our nation’s coast-to-coast … But instead of connecting communities, it divided them. These highways actually tore them apart,” referring to Black communities and other communities of color that were separated as a result of the highway constructions.
“Along with redlining, they disconnected entire communities from opportunities. Sometimes, in an effort to reinforce segregation … More than 100 years ago, Bronzeville was the home of a thriving hub of Black culture and commerce … Sadly too many communities across America face the loss of wealth, prosperity and possibilities that still reverberate today,” said Biden, adding that his latest infrastructure project is set to deliver “environmental justice by reconnecting disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods with new opportunities”.
“We’re going to ensure that good-paying construction jobs created in this project go to members of the community,” Biden continued.
In Milwaukee specifically, Biden’s initiative will see $36m be put towards the 6th Street Complete Streets Project, which will reconnect communities along more than 2.5 miles of the 6th street corridor. The project will also help provide wider sidewalks for children walking to school, safe bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes for faster transit and green infrastructure, the White House announced.
Other projects are set to take place in Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Portland, Oregon, among other towns and cities in the US.
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“Today, we’re making decisions that will transform your lives decades to come and we’re doing it all across America,” said Biden.
He went on to take jabs at Donald Trump, saying: “My predecessor … failed at the most basic duty any president owes the American people … the duty to care.”
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“We’re going to ensure that good-paying construction jobs created in this project go to members of the community,” Biden said.
“We’re making sure the construction materials of this project are made in America,” he added.
Biden announces $3.3bn in infrastructure spending
“I’m here to announce the first-of-its-kind investment: $3.3bn and 132 projects in 42 states,” Biden said in response to cheers.
“And in the process, delivering environmental justice by reconnecting disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods with new opportunities,” he added.
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Joe Biden speaks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Joe Biden has started speaking in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is set to announce billions of dollars in new infrastructure projects for local communities across the country.
We will bring you the latest updates.
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Alabama’s Republican senator Katie Britt has responded to news outlets fact-checking her State of the Union rebuttal in which she used the story of a woman who was sex-trafficked as a child.
Speaking to Texas senator Ted Cruz, Britt said: “Unbelievable!” before going on to accuse news outlets of wanting to “silence a conservative woman for speaking out on this topic”.
She added: “They don’t want to bring light and help the women who are actually being trafficked.”
“They want to silence a conservative woman for speaking out on this topic.”
— The Recount (@therecount) March 13, 2024
— Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) on the media fact-checking the sex trafficking story that she included in her State of the Union rebuttal pic.twitter.com/i9dj10H4gD
During her State of the Union rebuttal – which was widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike, Britt appeared to imply that Karla Jacinto Romero, an anti-trafficking activist, was sex-trafficked in the US during Joe Biden’s presidency. However, Romero was actually trafficked in Mexico from 2004 to 2008 when George W Bush was president.
Britt also claimed that Jacinto was trafficked by drug cartels; however, Jacinto said that she was trafficked by a pimp who was operating separately.
Following the spotlight that was cast on to Jacinto Romero as a result of Britt’s speech, Jacinto told CNN: “I think she should first take into account what really happens before telling a story of that magnitude.”
“Someone using my story and distorting it for political purposes is not fair at all,” Jacinto Romero added.
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Pennsylvania’s Democratic senator John Fetterman has issued his response to the latest TikTok bill, saying that the legislation does not seek to ban the popular social media app.
Writing on Twitter/X, Fetterman said:
“Let me be very clear: this legislation to restrict TikTok does NOT ban the app. It separates ties to the Chinese Communist party and prevents them from accessing the data of Americans – especially our kids.”
He went on to urge Senate Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer to put the bill on the Senate floor soon.
Let me be very clear: this legislation to restrict TikTok does NOT ban the app.
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) March 13, 2024
It separates ties to the Chinese Communist Party 🇨🇳 and prevents them from accessing the data of Americans—especially our kids.
Leader Schumer should put this bill on the floor soon.
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Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said the new bill that seeks to have ByteDance divest TikTok “is not an attempt to ban” the popular social media platform.
Speaking on the House floor this morning, Pelosi said:
This is not an attempt to ban TikTok. It’s an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe – a winner.
Some Senate Democrats have publicly opposed the TikTok bill, which faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, citing freedom of speech concerns, and suggested measures that would address concerns of foreign influence across social media without targeting TikTok specifically.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said:
We need curbs on social media, but we need those curbs to apply across the board.
The Democratic senator Mark Warner, who proposed a separate bill last year to give the White House new powers over TikTok, said he had “some concerns about the constitutionality of an approach that names specific companies”, but will take “a close look at this bill”.
Authors of the bill have argued it does not constitute a ban, as it gives ByteDance the opportunity to sell TikTok and avoid being blocked in the US.
Representative Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the House select China committee, and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the panel’s top Democrat, introduced legislation to address national security concerns posed by Chinese ownership of the app. “TikTok could live on and people could do whatever they want on it provided there is that separation,” Gallagher said, urging US ByteDance investors to support a sale.
It is not a ban – think of this as a surgery designed to remove the tumor and thereby save the patient in the process.
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No Labels, the centrist group planning a third-party presidential bid, will announce a nominating committee on Thursday to select a presidential candidate in the coming weeks, its co-chair Joseph Lieberman said.
Lieberman, who is expected to be part of the committee, told the Washington Post that it will also be charged with making sure that the selected nominee has a path to victory in the 2024 election. He said:
We are going to do a final determination that at least at this point we have met all of our standards, and we are not going to be a spoiler and that we are not going to re-elect Trump and that we actually have a chance to win.
He added that stopping Trump from being re-elected is “a goal even greater than restoring bipartisanship to Washington”.
No Labels delegates on Friday voted in favor of moving forward to field a presidential candidate in the 2024 election after months of weighing the launch of a so-called “unity ticket”.
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White House says it wants to see Senate 'take swift action' on TikTok bill
The White House said it is “glad” to see a bill move forward that would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the US.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the White House “will look to the Senate to take swift action” on the bill, adding that it “welcomes ongoing efforts to address the threats posed by certain technology services operating in the United States”.
The bill would not ban apps like TikTok, she said, but it would “ensure that ownership of these apps wouldn’t be in the hands of those who can exploit us or do us harm”.
She added that the White House will support the bill “in a technical way”, in order to make sure it is on the “strongest possible footing”.
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Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr will announce his running mate on 26 March, his campaign announced.
The New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the former pro wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura are at the top of Kennedy’s list of potential running mates, the New York Times reported.
Kennedy told the paper he was speaking to Rodgers – a fellow conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine campaigner – “pretty continuously” and had been in touch with Ventura since being introduced by him at an event in Arizona last month.
In Kennedy’s search for a running mate, those who have turned him down include Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky; Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii; and Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur who failed in runs for the Democratic presidential nomination and for the mayoralty of New York City.
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A group of congressional Democrats including the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and armed services veterans urged the current Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, to “lead, follow or get out of the way” of more military support for Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders.
“In the military, we have a great expression,” Mikie Sherrill, a House Democrat from New Jersey and a former navy helicopter pilot, told reporters on Capitol Hill.
‘Lead, follow or get out of the way.’ That is exactly what our speaker has to do.
Last month, Senate Democrats and Republicans passed a $95bn foreign aid package covering Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.
The Democrats who spoke on Wednesday faced vocal competition from protesters with Code Pink: Women for Peace, opposing funding for Israel in its war on Gaza. On Ukraine policy, though, House Republicans have proved more obstructive than Medea Benjamin, the Code Pink co-founder, was able to be at the Capitol.
Under the direction of Donald Trump, the presumptive presidential nominee who openly favors Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, Johnson has shown no sign of bringing the Senate package up for a vote. The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, recently emerged from meeting Trump to say that if Trump is re-elected, he will not give “a penny” to Ukraine.
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Joe Biden is expected to formally open his Wisconsin campaign headquarters when he visits Milwaukee this afternoon. He’s en route now.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will talk to reporters and answer questions aboard Air Force One on the way.
The Republican party will hold its convention in Milwaukee this July as it prepares to officially declare Trump its nominee to face Biden at the ballot this November.
Wisconsin is crucial to Biden’s re-election ambitions. He very narrowly won the state in 2020 in his domination of the upper midwest against the former president.
Then there was an almighty, surreal battle as Trump set his political dogs on the trail of overturning the result, with a variety of plots. All failed and last December, a group of Republican fake electors in Wisconsin acknowledged that Biden won the presidency and agreed they would not serve in the electoral college in 2024 as part of a settlement agreement in a civil lawsuit.
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Biden hits campaign trail after unofficially clinching nomination to face Trump
Joe Biden is on his way to his second swing state of the week when he visits Wisconsin this afternoon, two days after showing up in New Hampshire to tout his election agenda and just hours after unofficially becoming the Democratic party’s nominee for president in the 2024 election.
The current US president and his predecessor, Donald Trump, won primary elections in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state on Tuesday night, solidifying a rematch in November that a majority of voters aren’t looking forward to.
They won’t be officially anointed until their respective party conventions this summer, but both have now amassed enough delegates during the primary season to be unassailable as the nominees.
Biden, his vice-president Kamala Harris and cabinet members are fanning out across the country after Biden’s handily energetic State of the Union address last week, with swing states and districts very much in mind.
With today’s latest poll numbers showing that many voters are disgruntled and open to persuasion this election (though maybe the hard work will be persuading them to vote at all, not to switch allegiance), Biden and Trump have their work cut out.
The Associated Press notes that the last presidential election featuring a rematch came in 1956, when Republican president Dwight Eisenhower again defeated the Democratic opponent he had beaten four years prior, Adlai Stevenson.
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Protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza have blocked the international terminal at San Francisco airport, according to reports, as ceasefire talks in the Middle East remain stalled.
Demonstrators are holding banners with messages such as “Stop the world for Gaza” and chanting, both inside and outside the airport terminal.
#SFOALERT
— San Francisco International Airport (SFO) ✈️ (@flySFO) March 13, 2024
There is a protest in the International Terminal. The terminal remains open. Passengers are being re-routed around the activity
A roadway outside is blocked and protesters are making their voices heard and marching in tight circles there as they demand a resolution, ABC News reported.
Last week, negotiations aimed at brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war appeared to have stalled, days before an unofficial deadline of the beginning of the muslim holy fasting season of Ramadan, which began on Sunday.
Two days of talks between Hamas and international mediators in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, had not yielded any significant breakthroughs, with different parties blaming either Israel or Hamas.
A ship carrying foreign aid to those trapped in Gaza is expected to reach the shoreline of the coastal strip on Thursday morning, about 48 hours after it left Cyprus, and shortly after Josep Borrell, the United Nations’ foreign policy chief said starvation was being used by Israel in its blockade of Gaza as a weapon of war.
The San Francisco airport is still open, but disrupted.
HAPPENING NOW: Pro Palestine protesters have shut down a security gate at San Francisco International Airport demanding a ceasefire now pic.twitter.com/LnZlzPeTQt
— Dena Takruri (@Dena) March 13, 2024
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Summary of the day so far
The House of Representatives passed a bill on that would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total nationwide ban. The vote was a landslide, with 352 Congress members voting in favor and only 65 against.
The bill’s future is less certain in the Senate. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, issued a noncommittal statement after the House vote. Leaders of the Senate intelligence committee said they “look forward” to getting the bill passed through Senate and signed into law.
The House voted to pass the TikTok bill despite Donald Trump voicing opposition to the effort, despite previously supporting a ban on the platform. Trump’s newfound support of TikTok came after he met with the Republican mega-donor, Jeff Yass, who reportedly has a major financial stake in the platform. Yass is also the biggest donor to the conservative organization Club for Growth, which is currently paying former senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway to advocate for TikTok in Congress.
TikTok responded to the House vote describing it as a “ban” on the social media platform, adding that it was “hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts.”
China has warned that a potential TikTok ban would “come back to bite the United States”.
The Georgia judge overseeing the election-interference case against Donald Trump and 14 defendants dismissed six of the charges in the wide-ranging indictment, saying they were not detailed enough.
Donald Trump is narrowly leading Joe Biden in a new national poll released a day after both candidates clinched their presidential nominations. The poll by USA Today/Suffolk University found Trump polling at 40% to Biden’s 38%.
Nikki Haley received more than 77,000 votes in the Georgia Republican primary on Tuesday despite dropping out of the race last week. Trump won the state with 84.5% on Tuesday, as well as winning Mississippi and Washington, securing him enough votes to get the GOP nomination for president. Biden also became his party’s presumptive nominee on Tuesday.
Hunter Biden will not attend a public hearing related to House Republicans’ efforts to impeach his father, Joe Biden, his legal team said.
TikTok chief executive to talk to senators after House vote to force sale or ban of app
Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s chief executive, is expected to visit Capitol Hill today after the House voted to force the app’s owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the US.
Chew is on Capitol Hill on a previously scheduled trip to talk to senators, a source told Reuters.
In January, Chew and executives of other technology firms such as Meta, X and Snap testified at the Senate judiciary committee on child safety online. During the hearing, Chew was repeatedly questioned about his Singaporean nationality and about TikTok’s links to China.
Senator Tom Cotton faced criticism for grilling Chew about his nationality and suggested he was affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. Singapore does not allow its citizens to hold dual citizenship. Here’s the clip:
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Leaders of the House select committee on China said they are looking forward to working with the Senate to pass the “critical, bipartisan” TikTok bill.
TikTok “cannot continue to operate” in the US “under its current ownership structure”, a joint statement by the panel’s Republican chair Mike Gallagher and ranking Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi reads. It says:
Today, a bipartisan group of members came together to address the grave national security risk posed by TikTok. We speak with one voice and carry the same message as the Directors of the DIA, FBI, CIA, NSA, and the head of U.S. Cyber Command – TikTok cannot continue to operate in the United States under its current ownership structure. We look forward to working with our colleagues in the Senate to pass this critical, bipartisan legislation and deliver it to the President’s desk.
Trump shows slight lead over Biden in new poll
Donald Trump is narrowly leading Joe Biden in a new national poll released a day after both candidates clinched their presidential nominations.
The poll by USA Today/Suffolk University found Trump polling at 40% to Biden’s 38%, with a significant group of voters who said they are unhappy with their options and open to being persuaded. One in four of those surveyed said they might change their minds before the November election.
The poll found that 29% of voters ranked inflation and the economy as the most important issue determining their vote, followed by immigration (24%) and threats to democracy (23%).
In what could be good news for Biden, an increasing number of voters said there was an economic recovery under way, and his approval rating has also increased, the poll showed.
The US supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh is not a “consummately honest person” and “must know” what really happened on the night more than 40 years ago when he allegedly sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford, his accuser writes in an eagerly awaited memoir.
Ford was thrust into the spotlight in September 2018 as Kavanaugh, a Bush aide turned federal judge, became Donald Trump’s second conservative court nominee. Kavanaugh’s nomination became mired in controversy after a Washington Post interview in which Ford said Kavanaugh, while drunk, sexually assaulted her at a party in Montgomery county, Maryland, when they were both in high school.
Kavanaugh vehemently denied the accusation, helping fuel hearing-room rancor not seen since the 1991 confirmation of Clarence Thomas, a rightwinger accused of sexually harassing a co-worker, Anita Hill.
Supported by Republicans and Trump, Kavanaugh rode out the storm to join Thomas on the court. Trump would later add another conservative, Amy Coney Barrett, tipping the court 6-3 to the right. That court has since passed down major rightwing rulings, most prominently removing the federal right to abortion.
Ford’s memoir, One Way Back, will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.
“The fact is, he was there in the room with me that night in 1982,” Ford writes.
I believe he knows what happened. Even if it’s hazy from the alcohol, I believe he must know. Once he categorically denied my allegations as well as any bad behavior from his past during a Fox News interview, I felt more certainty than ever that after my experience with him, he had not gone on to become the consummately honest person befitting a supreme court justice.
Nikki Haley received more than 77,000 votes in the Georgia Republican primary on Tuesday despite dropping out of the race last week.
The former South Carolina governor and Donald Trump’s UN ambassador secured 77,761 votes or 13% of the vote in Georgia. While many of her supporters voted early, nearly 20,000 of votes that went to Haley came from those casting their ballots on election day, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Trump won the state with 84.5% on Tuesday, as well as winning Mississippi and Washington, securing him enough votes to get the GOP nomination for president.
But the Georgia results contain a potential warning for the former president’s campaign. Trump lost Georgia to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential elections by fewer than 12,000 votes or less than a quarter of a percentage point. Biden also became his party’s presumptive nominee on Tuesday.
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Before this morning’s House vote, China warned that a TikTok ban would “come back to bite the United States”.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the US of “suppressing TikTok” despite having “never found evidence that TikTok threatens US national security.” He added:
This kind of bullying behaviour that cannot win in fair competition disrupts companies’ normal business activity, damages the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, and damages the normal international economic and trade order.
“In the end, this will inevitably come back to bite the United States itself,” Wang said.
Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s vice-president, has thrown his support behind the TikTok bill despite opposition from his former boss.
Posting to X, Pence congratulated House speaker Mike Johnson on passing the bill and urged the Senate to take up the legislation “as soon as possible”.
Well Done @SpeakerJohnson! Grateful to @HouseGOP and every Member of Congress who supported Bipartisan Passage of this legislation forcing the sale of China’s TikTok. I urge the Senate to protect the security and privacy of the American people, take up this legislation as soon as… https://t.co/OuTTjjIMGk
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) March 13, 2024
Schumer noncommittal on fate of TikTok bill in Senate
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, has issued a short statement after the House voted to pass the TikTok bill.
The statement by Schumer reads:
The Senate will review the legislation when it comes over from the House.
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Hunter Biden declines invitation to impeachment hearing
Hunter Biden will not attend a public hearing related to House Republicans’ efforts to impeach his father, Joe Biden, his legal team said.
In a letter obtained by AP and Axios, Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell informed the chair of the House oversight committee, James Comer, that his client will not accept the committee’s invitation for him to appear for the 20 March hearing. The letter reads:
Your latest step – this March 6 invitation – is not a serious oversight proceeding. It is your attempt to resuscitate your Conference’s moribund inquiry with a made-for-right-wing-media, circus act.
Calling the invitation “a Hail Mary pass”, Lowell said he thought even Comer would “recognize your baseless impeachment proceeding was dead.”
Although no evidence has been produced, Republicans have accused Joe Biden and his family of personally profiting from his position while vice-president and have zeroed in on his son, Hunter, who had business ventures in Ukraine and China during that period.
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TikTok says House bill is a 'ban'
TikTok has released a statement describing the bill passed in the House as a “ban” on the social media platform, which is used by 170 million users in the US.
The statement reads:
This process was secret and the bill was jammed through for one reason: It’s a ban. We are hopeful that the Senate will consider the facts, listen to their constituents, and realize the impact on the economy, seven million small businesses, and the 170 million Americans who use our service.
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House speaker Mike Johnson has urged the Senate to pass the TikTok bill after it passed in a landslide vote in the House.
Johnson, in a statement posted to X, said China is “America’s largest geopolitical foe” and said apps like TikTok “allow the Chinese Communist Party to push harmful content to our youth and engage in malign activities.”
Communist China is America’s largest geopolitical foe and is using technology to actively undermine America’s economy and security. Apps like TikTok allow the Chinese Communist Party to push harmful content to our youth and engage in malign activities, such as harvesting the…
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) March 13, 2024
Senate intelligence leaders express support for TikTok bill
Leaders of the Senate intelligence committee have issued a joint statement saying that they “look forward” to getting the TikTok bill passed through Senate and signed into law.
The statement by Senate select committee on intelligence chair Mark Warner and vice-chair Marco Rubio reads:
We are united in our concern about the national security threat posed by TikTok – a platform with enormous power to influence and divide Americans whose parent company ByteDance remains legally required to do the bidding of the Chinese Community Party.
We were encouraged by today’s strong bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives, and look forward to working together to get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law.
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The vote in the House represents the most concrete threat to TikTok in an ongoing political battle over allegations the China-based company ByteDance could collect sensitive user data and politically censor content.
TikTok has repeatedly stated it has not and would not share US user data with the Chinese government.
Despite those arguments, TikTok faced an attempted ban by Donald Trump in 2020 and a state-level ban passed in Montana in 2023. Courts blocked both of those bans on grounds of first amendment violations, and Trump the ex-president has since reversed his stance, now opposing a ban on TikTok.
The treasury-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in March 2023 demanded ByteDance sell their TikTok shares or face the possibility of the app being banned, Reuters reported, but no action has been taken.
The bill’s future is less certain in the Senate. Some Senate Democrats have publicly opposed the bill, citing freedom of speech concerns, and suggested measures that would address concerns of foreign influence across social media without targeting TikTok specifically.
Although the bill was written with TikTok in mind, it is possible other China-owned platforms could be impacted, including US operations of Tencent’s WeChat, which Trump also sought to ban in 2020.
House votes to force ByteDance to divest TikTok or face ban
The House has voted to pass a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the app or face a ban in the US.
The bill passed 352 to 65.
But the bill faces a more uncertain path in the senate, and the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, has not yet committed to putting it on the floor.
The legislation would give ByteDance 165 days from the day it is enacted to divest from the social media app used by about 170 million Americans, or face a ban in US app stores and web hosting services.
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House on track to pass TikTok bill
The House of Representatives has enough votes to pass a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the app or face a ban in the US.
The vote continues in the House, but it is on track to pass the chamber and by a wide margin.
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Judge dismisses some charges against Trump in Georgia election case
The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and his allies has thrown out some of the charges against the former president and several of his co-defendants, but many other counts in the indictment remain.
The Fulton County superior court judge Scott McAfee ruled that six of the counts in the 41-count indictment must be quashed, including three against Trump. But the order leaves intact other charges, and the judge wrote that prosecutors could seek a new indictment on the charges he dismissed.
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Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said he voted no on the TikTok bill.
A statement by Himes reads:
As a ranking member of the intelligence committee I have more insight than most into the online threats posed by our adversaries. But one of the key differences between us and those adversaries is the fact that they shut down newspapers, broadcast stations, and social media platforms.
We do not. We trust our citizens to be worthy of their democracy. We do not trust our government to decide what information they may or may not see.
He added that he believed there is a way to address the challenge posed by TikTok “that is consistent with our commitment to freedom of expression”,
But a bill quickly passed by one committee less than a week ago is not that way.
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House votes on TikTok bill
Voting has started on the House’s bill.
Under fast-track rules, it requires support by two-thirds of House members for the measure to pass.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia congresswoman and leading supporter of Donald Trump, said she opposed the TikTok bill because it is “opening Pandora’s box” to future problems.
Speaking on the House floor, Greene said she was the only member of Congress who had been banned from social media, and that “this is really about controlling Americans’ data.” She said:
This is a Pandora’s box. What’s to stop Congress or the United States government in the future from forcing the sale of another social media company claiming that it’s protecting Americans data from foreign adversaries?
She added:
When the government moves on to forcing the sale of TikTok, who’s going to buy it? That’s the question. Who will be the next to control the data of over 170 million Americans? Are we going to trust Mark Zuckerberg to control their data? I certainly don’t.
Robert Garcia, the Democratic congressman of California, said he will also vote against the TikTok bill.
Garcia said he shared privacy and data concerns, but that the bill represents a “huge issue over freedom of expression”.
170 million Americans use TikTok to communicate, run a business, and share stories. And yes we share privacy and data concerns but this bill is not the answer.
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) March 13, 2024
This is a huge issue over freedom of expression and I don’t think folks understand the impact. I’m voting NO. https://t.co/qSLTUhOSVp
Maxwell Frost, the Democratic congressman of Florida, said he will vote against the TikTok bill.
Frost has previously said he opposed the “masked effort” that will most likely result in the platform being banned, and said it would have “drastic impacts for businesses, content creators and a lot of folks” in the country.
I am a NO on the TikTok bill we are about to vote on.
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) March 13, 2024
I believe the bill does set TikTok up to be banned, there are first amendment issues I see with taking away a platform that over 170 million American’s use, and this won’t fix the serious issues we have with data privacy. https://t.co/Ygzr8saL5j
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, said he plans to vote yes on the TikTok bill.
In a statement, Jeffries said the legislation “does not ban TikTok” but instead is designed “to address legitimate national security and privacy concerns related to the Chinese Communist Party’s engagement” with the social media platform. He goes on:
If enacted, the bill would require divestiture by ByteDance and the sale of TikTok to an American company. Under that scenario, the platform will remain available to users, while significantly decreasing the likelihood that TikTok user data is exploited and privacy undermined by a hostile foreign adversary.
Jeffries said the “principled objections” by several lawmakers to the bill are “real and should not be dismissed,” adding:
However, after careful consideration, I plan to vote yes on the legislation for the substantive reasons set forth above.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democrat congresswoman of New York, said she will vote against the TikTok bill.
Posting to X, she said the bill was “incredibly rushed” and “with little explanation”, adding there are still “serious antitrust and privacy questions here.”
I’m voting NO on the TikTok forced sale bill.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 13, 2024
This bill was incredibly rushed, from committee to vote in 4 days, with little explanation.
There are serious antitrust and privacy questions here, and any national security concerns should be laid out to the public prior to a vote.
House begins debate on TikTok bill
The House has begun to debate on a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the company, or face a nationwide ban.
The House is expected to vote today on the legislation.
Jeff Yass, the Republican mega-donor whose investment company reportedly owns about 15% of ByteDance, is the biggest donor to the conservative organization Club for Growth, which is currently paying former senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway to advocate for TikTok in Congress.
Conway has held at least 10 meetings with lawmakers in recent months about TikTok, according to a Politico report on Monday. She has also spoken to Donald Trump about the importance of defending the app, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
Donald Trump’s newfound support of TikTok, and by extension its Chinese owner ByteDance ByteDance, came soon after Joe Biden said he’d sign legislation making its way through Congress that could ban the app.
It also came after the former president met with the Republican mega-donor, Jeff Yass, who reportedly has a major financial stake in the popular social media platform.
Yass’s hedge fund, Susquehanna International Group, took a stake in ByteDance in 2012 estimated by the Wall Street Journal last year at about 15%, with Yass personally owning 7%, valued at $21bn.
Soon after the meeting at a Club for Growth donor retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this month, Trump wrote on Truth Social:
If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better.
Trump flip flopped on TikTok ban
Donald Trump, who as president supported calls to ban TikTok, came out earlier this week in favor of the app.
“There are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it,” Trump told CNBC on Monday, adding:
There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok. But the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok you’re going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media.
Trump was suspended and then permanently banned from Meta-owned Facebook soon after the 6 January 2021 riots “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”, though he was allowed back approximately two years later.
Speaking to CNBC, Trump said that, while he still believes TikTok is a national security risk, other apps are a risk as well, and singled out the Meta-owned platform.
I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections.
Last week, he said banning TikTok would help “Facebook and Zuckerschmuck double their business”, referring to Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
Updated
House to vote on TikTok ban
Good morning US politics readers. The House is expected to vote on a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the company, or face a nationwide ban.
House leadership has scheduled a vote for 10am ET this morning under fast-track rules that require support by two-thirds of House members for the measure to pass. The bill is expected to pass with widespread bipartisan support but its fate is unclear in the Senate, where it will likely need support from at least 60 senators to make it across the finish line.
If passed, it would require ByteDance to divest TikTok, an app used by about 170 million Americans, or face a ban on US app stores and web hosting services, banning users from accessing the platform, within six months. Joe Biden has said he would sign the bill, while Donald Trump – who as president supported calls to ban the app – has recently voiced opposition to the effort.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
Joe Biden and Donald Trump formally clinched their respective party’s nominations last night, soldidifying a rematch a majority of voters aren’t looking forward to.
11am. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, will hold his weekly press conference.
11.15am. Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, will meet with the EU high representative, Josep Borrell.
1pm. Blinken will participate in a virtual ministerial session on humanitarian assistance for Gaza.
2.45pm. Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, will travel to Kentucky to tour Advanced Nano Products’s Elizabethtown battery facility and speak. Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, will join her.
4pm. Biden will travel to Milwaukee in the swing state of Wisconsin, to speak about the economy and jobs. The president will headline a campaign event in Milwaukee at 4.50pm.
Updated
