Congress

Congress finds Trump’s TikTok sale scheme confusing, possibly illegal

Published

2 years ago

January 23, 2025

Members of Congress are declaring themselves bewildered by Donald Trump’s latest proposal to save TikTok by brokering a joint-ownership deal.

“I don’t know what he means by that,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), of Trump’s suggestion to broker a “joint venture” in which “the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok.”

“I don’t understand what the president is doing,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Trump has promised to hash out a deal to keep TikTok in business, despite a law that ordered its parent company to divest by last Sunday. His solution is a split-ownership arrangement that may involve the U.S. itself owning a share of the company.

“What I’m thinking about saying to somebody is, buy it and give half to the United States of America,” Trump said at a press conference Tuesday night. “And we’ll give you the permit.”

The idea has managed the unique Washington feat of uniting both supporters and skeptics of the ban, who object to both the idea of joint ownership with China and U.S. ownership of a social-media app at all — and also argue it doesn’t comply with the law’s requirement that ByteDance simply divest the company.

“By the law, it doesn’t allow that. It’s my understanding of the law,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a staunch Trump ally, told Blue Light News.

Paul, who opposes the TikTik ban on free-speech grounds and introduced his own bipartisan bill this week to repeal it, said he was opposed to Trump’s solution: “I’m not for public ownership of any companies,” he said.

Trump’s comments haven’t specified whether half would go to an American owner, or literally half would be owned by America. Trump’s idea also appears to give a role to China in the negotiations and possibly the ownership structure.

“That’d be a forever violation of the law. It wouldn’t be a minor adjustment,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-S.D.). “I think if China has one percent ownership, it’s a violation of the law.”

But it’s also not clear under the law what role Congress can play in stopping Trump.

On the floor Wednesday, Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, pleaded with Trump to take a more collaborative approach on the app’s future.

“Senators and members of Congress want to work with President Trump as he tries to end what is a Chinese overinfluence on such an important national security threat,” she said. “I don’t know that a joint venture with the Chinese is going to rectify this issue about the algorithm.”

Congress

Jim Jordan says he will relinquish Judiciary gavel, pass on a return to Oversight

Published

28 minutes ago

September 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DALLAS — Rep. Jim Jordan said Wednesday he plans to end his eight-year run leading Republicans on two of the House’s most prominent committees after this Congress, raising fresh questions about what comes next for the veteran Ohio lawmaker.

Jordan, 62, said in an interview on the sidelines of the Republican midterm convention that he has no plans to seek a waiver of the GOP’s three-term limit on committee leaders to retain the top spot on the Judiciary Committee.

Nor, he said, would he seek to return to lead Republicans on the House Oversight Committee. He previously served as ranking member from 2019 to 2020, when he took the GOP reins at Judiciary, and has at least two terms of eligibility remaining there.

“No, I don’t plan to do that,” Jordan said. “There’s other people who are very interested in Oversight.”

Jordan could have requested a waiver from the House Republican Steering Committee, and several other sitting GOP chairs — including Agriculture’s G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) and Armed Services’ Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) — are expected to do just that. He brushed off questions about why we would not join others in seeking to keep the coveted gavel overseeing the Justice Department, immigration law and other high-profile matters.

“I’m just not going to do it,” he said.

The decision is likely to stoke speculation about another potential leadership run for Jordan, who is seeking his 11th term this fall. He unsuccessfully sought the speakership after Kevin McCarthy’s 2023 ouster, and there has been open chatter in recent months that he is quietly setting the grounds to make another run at the top job.

After flatly denying plans to retain a committee gavel, Jordan was far less direct in addressing other questions about his future in the House.

“I’m focused on one thing, one thing only: winning,” he said. “If the left wins, where they want to take the country is very, very scary.”

Jordan, for instance, did not rule out running against Speaker Mike Johnson for the gavel if Republicans hold onto House majority this fall.

“As I said, I’m focused on winning. We got to win,” he said when asked if he could challenge Johnson, adding “that’s why I’ve been … in 15 different states, and so we just keep going to help our colleagues and candidates.”

Jordan only serves on the Judiciary and Oversight committees, and it is rare for veteran Republican members who are term-limited out of committee leadership posts to stick around as back-benchers in the House.

Jordan did not criticize his fellow chairs who are seeking waivers: “They want a waiver, that’s fine. It’s been granted in the past, and sometimes they get them, sometimes they don’t,” he said, noting it was “up to the conference and the steering committee.”

Asked if he would stay in Congress without a committee or conference leadership position, he noted he is running for reelection: “I’m going to go represent the people in the 4th District.”

Asked a final time what’s next for his decadeslong political career, Jordan chuckled and went through his plans for the day.

“I got like three more interviews,” Jordan said. “And then I’m going to go sit down in that suite, and we’ve got to have some popcorn and watch the speeches. I think that’s what’s next for me.”

Congress

Bobby Scott defends his track record amid fight to keep committee post

Published

2 hours ago

September 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Bobby Scott is defending his track record leading Democrats on the House Education and Workforce Committee in a new letter as he faces an internal challenge for the top job.

In a Dear Colleague letter dated Wednesday, the 79-year-old Virginian said he is running to keep the top spot on the committee, guaranteeing a showdown with fellow Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, a 53-year-old former teacher.

Scott has led the panel’s Democrats since 2015, including four years as chair during his party’s time in the majority from 2019 to 2023. He said in the latter that he looks forward to again holding the gavel of the Education and Labor Committee, as it is traditionally named under Democratic majorities.

“In this moment, we need a leader with a proven record of confronting and thwarting a dangerous President, a leader who will conduct rigorous oversight without fear or favor,” Scott said in the letter. “We also need a leader who will advance legislation grounded in evidence and data, restore and expand programs people need not only to survive but to thrive, and ensure we have a government that is truly accountable to the people. My track record speaks for itself.”

He made reference to one critique of his leadership — that he is a relatively low-profile presence inside the Democratic caucus: “While I have no qualms about sharing the spotlight with my colleagues, I want to be clear that my colleagues should not confuse my humility with an inability to deliver results.”

Blue Light News first reported Hayes’ interest in challenging Scott last week. She said in an interview that there needs to be a “push from the caucus” to counter President Donald Trump’s attempts to dismantle the Education Department.

“We are going to lift our heads up, and the Department of Education is going to be gone,” Hayes said. “I think that as a caucus and as a country, that should be a part of our priorities and a part of our agenda because it is incredibly important.”

Congress

Sanders to host AI briefing for senators

Published

4 hours ago

September 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will host a private briefing for senators next week with top artificial intelligence researchers, according to a letter to colleagues obtained by Blue Light News.

The meeting, slated for 4 p.m. on Sept. 16, comes as concerns grow on both sides of the aisle about safety warnings from top AI labs and researchers about the technology’s growing capabilities.

“Congress needs SERIOUS discussions about this issue,” Sanders wrote. “That is why I will be convening a private briefing with some of the leading experts in the world to discuss this recent incident and the extraordinary dangers that AI poses for humanity.”

Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as the “godfather of AI,” is expected to brief the lawmakers alongside MIT professor and co-founder of the Future of Life Institute Max Tegmark and Ajeya Cotra, an independent investigator who helped probe helped probe OpenAI agents’ recent autonomous attack on the tech platform Hugging Face.

Sanders has positioned himself as a leading progressive voice on AI, calling last week for a pause in AI development until a vetting regime can be stood up and a complete ban on superintelligence, a type of AI that may exceed humans’ cognitive capabilities.

Axios first reported details of the briefing.