{"id":86332,"date":"2020-08-05T11:25:50","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T03:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=86332"},"modified":"2020-08-05T11:25:51","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T03:25:51","slug":"us-pres-trump-calls-for-slice-of-tiktok-deal-draws-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=86332","title":{"rendered":"US Pres Trump calls for slice of TikTok deal draws fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Trump-calls-for-slice-of-TikTok-deal-draws-fire.jpg\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Trump-calls-for-slice-of-TikTok-deal-draws-fire.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; President Donald Trump defended his demand for the US government to get a piece of the action to let Microsoft or any other company here buy popular China-based social media app TikTok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump\u2019s stance was slammed by critics who said it appears unconstitutional and akin to extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have all the cards, because without us, you can\u2019t come into the United States,\u201d Trump said during a White House press briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re a landlord, you have a tenant, the tenant\u2019s business needs rent, it needs a lease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump maintained that a large share of any TikTok purchase price should go to the US treasury, and that Microsoft \u201cagreed with me very much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Microsoft did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump on Monday said he was prepared to approve a deal selling TikTok assets to Microsoft or another US company after warning of a national security ban, but maintained that he would ask for \u201ca substantial portion\u201d of any transaction to come into the Treasury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump lacks authority for this demand, critics said, adding that if carried out it would be bad for business and international relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThose are the sort of mafia tactics you might see in Russia,\u201d said James Lewis, director of technology policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a good policy practice. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s constitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bobby Chesney, a University of Texas law professor specializing in national security and constitutional issues, said Trump\u2019s suggestion \u201cis grossly inappropriate and unbecoming, not to mention having no basis in law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former federal prosecutor Michael Bromwich said on Twitter that Trump\u2019s demands sounded like racketeering, referring to the law known as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act (RICO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is becoming a more overt RICO enterprise with each passing day,\u201d he wrote in response to Trump\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Used by as many as a billion people worldwide to make quirky short-form videos on their cellphones, TikTok is the latest front in the ongoing political and trade battles between Washington and Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The United States maintains that TikTok collects users\u2019 personal data that the Chinese government can access and make use of for intelligence and other purposes. TikTok denies its user data goes to the Chinese government. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; President Donald Trump defended his demand for the US government to get a piece of the action to let Microsoft or any other company here buy popular China-based social media app TikTok. Trump\u2019s stance was slammed by critics who said it appears unconstitutional and akin to extortion. \u201cWe have all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":86334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208,215],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86332"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/86334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}