DOLLY PARTON RETURNS TO PUBLIC EYE TO CELEBRATE OPENING DAY AT DOLLYWOOD . (PHOTO).
A newly formed group dedicated to fighting public corruption has filed a lawsuit against President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, claiming they violated the law when they approved the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to business associates with ties to the White House. The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleges that the Trump administration ignored a law designed to prevent Chinese influence and instead facilitated a partial transfer of TikTok’s U.S. assets to investors close to the former president.
Brendan Ballou, CEO of the nonprofit Public Integrity Project, said the lawsuit aims to ensure that Trump “is not beyond the reach of the courts, beyond the reach of Congress, beyond the reach of the rule of law.” The legal challenge points to Trump’s repeated extensions allowing ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, to delay divestiture, as well as his directive to the Justice Department not to enforce the law. Last January, Trump approved the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a group including Oracle, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, Susquehanna International Group, and General Atlantic—some of whom had financial ties to Trump. Plaintiffs in the suit, including software engineers with stock in Google and Meta, argue they were harmed by the administration’s failure to enforce the 2024 law, as ByteDance retained control over TikTok’s recommendation algorithm and key U.S. operations. The Public Integrity Project says it seeks to fill the gap left by a Justice Department that has scaled back units focused on white-collar and international corruption.
Comments
Post a Comment