(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is demanding TikTok’s Chinese owner sell its stake in the app or risk getting banned, the company and a U.S. official told ABC News.
TikTok confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday that it was recently contacted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). The company said CFIUS prefers for ByteDance to sell its stake in TikTok, rather than reach an agreement with the U.S. government over national security concerns.
This move is an escalation and comes as the administration has been publicly hardening its stance against TikTok. Last week, the White House came out in support of bipartisan legislation that could be used to ban TikTok.
The administration has been negotiating an agreement over data security with TikTok for two years now. This news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
In a statement to ABC News, TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said: “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting and verification, which we are already implementing.”
TikTok added that it will continue to move forward with a plan called “Project Texas” to safeguard U.S. user data as it evaluates the Biden administration’s new position.
The White House and Treasury Department, which oversees CFIUS, declined to comment.
TikTok has come under growing pressure in Washington amid concerns that the popular video sharing app’s parent company ByteDance would share U.S. user data with the Chinese government. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before Congress for the first time next week.
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — The mother of a Missouri teenager who fell to his death last year while on the world’s tallest tower drop ride has reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit with the Florida amusement park and ride’s operator, her attorney announced Wednesday.
Fourteen-year-old Tyre Sampson died after slipping out of his seat while on the Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park on March 24, 2022, falling more than 100 feet to his death, according to the lawsuit. The eighth grader was a star football player who was visiting the theme park with his team during spring break.
Last year, Orlando Eagle Drop Slingshot, the ride’s operator, decided to take down the 430-foot-tall attraction in the wake of Sampson’s death.
“It’s a bittersweet moment,” Nekia Dodd, the mother of Sampson, said during a press conference on Wednesday near ICON Park as the Orlando FreeFall ride continues to be dismantled.
“The ride is coming down, and I’m thankful for that. But my son’s not coming back,” Dodd said.
Wednesday marked the first time Dodd saw the ride where her son died.
“My son took his last breath on this ride. So it’s hard. It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
Her attorney, Michael Haggard, announced during the press briefing that a settlement has been reached between Dodd, ICON Park and Orlando Eagle Drop Slingshot. They declined to discuss the terms of the settlement, though Dodd said she would like to use it to “keep my son’s legacy alive” by giving back to community sports and schools.
Additional steps to hold other companies accountable continue, according to Haggard, who claimed that the ride’s manufacturer — Funtime Handels of Austria — has tried to “evade responsibility.”
In a statement to ABC News on Wednesday, ICON Park deferred questions about the lawsuit to Sampson’s family.
“While the FreeFall ride is not owned and was not controlled or operated by ICON Park, because it is a tenant on the property, we agree with the owner’s decision to dismantle the ride and our hearts are with the family as they witness this important milestone,” the statement said.
Operator error is suspected as the primary cause in Sampson’s death, according to a forensic engineer’s field investigation report released in April. The report showed that the individual operator of the FreeFall ride, who was not identified, “made manual adjustments to the ride resulting in it being unsafe.”
According to the report, manual manipulations were made to the seat Sampson was sitting in to allow the harness restraint opening to be loosened, apparently to accommodate the more than 300-pound teenager. The investigation found Sampson’s harness restraint opening was “almost double that of a normal restraint opening range.”
The Tyre Sampson Act, a Florida bill that aims to protect future amusement park riders with increased safety regulations, advanced after its first hearing on Monday.
(ATLANTA) — Two years after the death of eight people at three Atlanta-based Asian-owned or operated spas, Asian Americans are uniting in cities across the nation to demand action against racist hate, violence and to pay tribute to the lives lost.
Co-organized by Stand with Asian Americans in partnership with various other Asian American equity organizations, the rallies don’t plan to only mourn the losses of the 2021 Atlanta shootings, but will mourn the lives lost in other killings, such as the Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park shootings that happened earlier this year.
“This violence is only kind of the latest manifestation of violence against our community,” said Charles Jung, the executive director of APAs vs. Hate and a civil rights attorney. “This event is important to remember because this is about fighting the prejudice in our community while we also heal and build for the future.”
Jung is the coordinator for the March 16 commemoration across the five cities.
On March 16, the “Always With Us: Asian Americans Rise Against Hate” synchronized events will occur in Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, New York and San Francisco.
There will be special appearances at the events ranging from 2022 TIME Woman of the Year Amanda Nguyen to Brandon Tsay, the man who stopped the gunman in Monterey Park. Other appearances will include Asian American leaders, activists, community members and elected officials.
Robert Peterson, son of Atlanta Spa shooting victim Yong Ae Yue, told ABC News that Thursday’s rallies serve as a way for the public to not only support Asian Americans, but hear the stories of those whose lives have been lost due to hate crimes.
“I know the feeling of hearing these events and saying that it’s sad. But it’s important for me to put a face to those stories,” Peterson said emotionally. “This is my mother. This is not just a regular event. This is not another mass shooting, but this was my mother.”
While the events all strive to promote unity across the nation, each city plans to emphasize issues that are going on locally, such as San Francisco’s focus on low-wage workers and New York City’s emphasis on Asian women.
“The idea of it being national, but at the same time, reflective of the constituents and the population and the community and the issues that they’re facing vocally was important to highlight for each one of the cities,” said Wendy Nguyen, co-founder of Stand with Asian Americans.
This will be the second year that the organizations have created synchronized rallies nationwide that are open to the public in person and through livestream, regardless of race.
“I want and hope that we as a community can galvanize the next generation of Asian American activism… so that we can build this cross coalition, so that we can elevate all communities, not just the Asian community.”
Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(AMARILLO, Texas) — A federal judge in Texas said Wednesday that he plans to rule soon on whether to overturn the federal government’s approval of an abortion medication some 23 years ago — a decision that could pull the drug from the market nationwide, even in states where abortion is legal.
The promise by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk followed a daylong hearing in Amarillo, Texas, that attracted local church members lining up before dawn and filling the 19 seats open to the public.
Several media outlets were blocked from getting inside due to a lack of space while demonstrators, both for and against abortion access, marched outside the courtroom steps.
“Let us pray” were the first words spoken in the hearing by a court assistant kicking off four hours of arguments.
Abortion rights supporters said they weren’t optimistic after the hearing, noting the judge appeared open to siding with the conservative plaintiffs in the case, who argued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was wrong to approve the medication mifepristone.
“There are a whole host of reasons why this court should just dismiss [the lawsuit] out of hand … But we’re obviously very concerned that that’s not going to be the case,” said Carrie Flaxman, senior director for public policy litigation and law with Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Erik Baptist, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, the group that filed the lawsuit, said the judge needed to provide a check on the FDA, which he said ignored safety concerns with mifepristone — an allegation the government and most medical doctors refute.
“As we stated in court, the FDA never had the authority to approve these drugs and remove important safeguards, despite the substantial evidence of the harms women and girls who undergo this dangerous drug regimen could suffer,” Baptist said.
In addition to curbing access to a common form of abortion — about half of all abortions rely on mifepristone — the ruling could have sweeping implications for how drugs are approved in the U.S., potentially curbing the regulatory powers of the FDA and emboldening advocacy groups to challenge other medications and vaccines.
In attendance on Wednesday were mostly local church members from Amarillo, including several from the Central Church of Christ.
As the small number of public attendees looked on, the plaintiffs laid out their case: They told the judge that doctors were unfairly burdened by having to treat complications arising from the abortion pill and that it causes harm to women who take the medication. They spoke about how many states are prohibiting abortion, yet their residents are still finding access to this medication.
“Relief must be complete and nationwide,” Baptist told the judge.
Government lawyers defending the FDA said the government has reviewed extensive data and found no safety concerns.
“The public interest would be dramatically harmed” by siding with the plaintiffs, said Julie Straus Harris, an attorney for the Justice Department.
For his part, Judge Kacsmaryk didn’t tip his hand on how he’d rule and an appeal from either side is likely. But he zeroed in on whether it is legal to mail a substance causing an abortion. Under the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law, that remains illegal. But the Justice Department has said that law doesn’t apply in this case because no one can ever know exactly how a drug will be used when it’s mailed.
The judge also asked questions about other fast-tracked medicines and why the FDA would swiftly approve a drug when pregnancy wasn’t an “illness.” Government lawyers said pregnancy was a “condition,” while advocates noted that the drug is still used to treat miscarriages.
Julie Sims, a church member who watched the hearing in the courtroom, said she left in disbelief such a medication is legal in some states and frustration that they didn’t talk more about babies.
“Some people don’t even know how to take an aspirin properly. How can they be expected to take something like this?” she said.
Outside the courtroom was a very different scene, with protestors shouting and one dressed as a kangaroo to suggest an illegitimate “kangaroo court.”
They argued the Trump-appointed judge was biased.
“He’s a lifelong activist,” said Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of the Women’s March.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — A Donald Trump-aligned political group on Wednesday said it filed a complaint with the Florida Commission of Ethics accusing Gov. Ron DeSantis of abusing his office to mount a “shadow presidential campaign” — which DeSantis’ team dismissed as a “frivolous” claim.
DeSantis, the popular and polarizing governor of a former swing state that has shifted bright red, is seen by many as Trump’s biggest potential challenger for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
While DeSantis is publicly playing down the discussion of his White House ambitions, ABC News has confirmed that he’s privately indicated to allies that he intends to launch a campaign.
DeSantis’ team has been working under the assumption that an announcement would come following the end of the Florida legislative session in May or in June, sources told ABC News. However, the exact timing has not been nailed down.
In recent months, DeSantis has also become a major target of Trump and some Trump allies.
The Wednesday complaint, from Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc., asks the state ethics commission to examine DeSantis in light of the political action committees supporting him, his book tour pegged to a new memoir and what the complaint describes as his personal gains, misuse of his office and unacceptable receipt of gifts — which the complaint links to support by outside political groups — among other wrongful benefits.
The letter calls DeSantis a “de facto candidate” for president of the United States.
Make America Great Again Inc., a political action committee that can campaign for Trump but not coordinate with him, is arguing that DeSantis is taking the steps to be a presidential candidate despite not announcing an official presidential run.
The complaint alleges that DeSantis’ political activities and work with the outside groups knowingly influence how he will act under Florida’s resign-to-run law, which would require him to step down from his current office if he seeks an office out of state.
“[H]e is receiving gifts with the understanding that they will influence his official judgment” to ultimately run for president, the complaint claims.
In a statement to ABC News, DeSantis’ communications director, Taryn Fenske, said they are “adding this to the list of frivolous and politically motivated attacks.”
“It’s inappropriate to use state ethics complaints for partisan purposes,” Fenske said.
One of the PACs mentioned in the complaint is the recently formed Never Back Down PAC, created by Ken Cuccinelli, a former Department of Homeland Security official under Trump and a former attorney general of Virginia.
Cuccinelli released a statement following the complaint’s release, saying that “the President Trump [he] knew would never have played these types of establishment games.”
“The overwhelming response we’ve received to building a DeSantis grassroots effort is exciting – and I’m sure intimidating. No wonder the folks on that campaign are nervous. They should be. The MAGA movement is excited to look to its next chapter and future conservative leadership. They are excited at the potential of a President Ron DeSantis,” Cuccinelli said.
Trump has ramped up his attacks on the governor over the past couple of months, recently telling Politico he regrets endorsing DeSantis during DeSantis’ 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
Although Make America Great Again Inc. said they filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics, Lynn Blais, a spokesperson for the commission, told ABC News they cannot confirm or deny the existence of a complaint.
Blais said there is no set timeframe for a decision being made on a complaint and that the commission meets every six to eight weeks.
“There’s so many variables related to investigations,” Blais said.
Of the nine members of the commission, five were appointed by DeSantis, including Glenton Gilzean, the chair.
(SAN ANTONIO) — Seven people were sent to the hospital after a tree branch fell on them at a zoo in Texas, according to the San Antonio Fire Department.
The tree branch “unexpectedly” broke and fell on guests Monday afternoon at the San Antonio Zoo, the zoo confirmed.
According to the fire department, one of the injured guests was seen as “level 1 priority care,” while the other injured guests were sent to the hospital out of precaution.
The zoo’s security and emergency services staff responded quickly and began treating the injured guests, according to the zoo.
San Antonio Police and fire officials responded to the scene within minutes, zoo officials said.
The conditions of the injured guests are unknown at this time.
Earlier this year, several incidents including a damaged animal enclosure, missing monkeys and an “unusual” death occurred at the Dallas Zoo.
Additionally, Dallas Zoo officials said a clouded leopard named Nova escaped from its enclosure after its fence was “intentionally cut” on Jan. 13.
Zoo officials also discovered an endangered vulture dead inside its habitat on Jan. 21, saying that its death did not occur naturally and was “unusual.”
Two of the Dallas Zoo’s emperor tamarin monkeys were discovered missing from their habitat, which had been “intentionally compromised,” according to the zoo.
Last month, the Dallas Police Department arrested Davion Irvin — a man they were looking to speak with regarding the missing tamarin monkeys — in connection with the theft of the two animals and charged him with six counts of animal cruelty.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) — A Rhode Island woman who pleaded guilty to carrying out what prosecutors said was a massive fraud — pretending to be a Purple Heart recipient and Bronze Star-decorated U.S Marine — was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison Tuesday.
Sarah Cavanaugh told people she defrauded she was injured in Iraq, despite never serving in the military, prosecutors said.
Cavanaugh claimed she was a “cancer-stricken” Purple Heart recipient to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent charitable donations and veterans’ benefits, they said. Cavanaugh used the stolen identities of actual veterans to get the money, according to the Justice Department.
A search of Defense Department records, officials said, indicates Cavanaugh never served in any branch of the U.S. military.
In reality, according to the DOJ, Cavanaugh was a social worker at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center and used her position “to gain access to documents, personal information, and medical records belonging to a Marine and a Navy veteran who was battling cancer.”
Prosecutors called her conduct “near-daily criminal conduct over a period of five years,” saying she defrauded “veterans, veterans’ organizations, veterans’ charities, friends, and co-workers in a “methodical and calculated manner.”
She allegedly stole more than $250,000 from those organizations in what prosecutors called a “brazen scheme.”
“Sarah Cavanagh feigned having cancer, and falsely claimed valor where there was none, to gain hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits and charitable donations. Her actions are an insult to every veteran who has served our country, and today she learned her fate for her criminal conduct,” Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division, said. “Make no mistake, the FBI and our law enforcement partners are committed to seeking justice for anyone who lies about serving our country and illegally takes money from federal programs that help veterans who rightfully deserve it.”
Cavanagh, according to prosecutors, rose to a leadership position at a VFW lodge, gave public speeches while dressed in full U.S. Marine uniform, complete with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star that she purchased on the internet; and secured a spot in an arts program at the University of Southern California, a program she described to a U.S. Army veteran she met through the Wounded Warrior Program who was later accepted into the program.
(OLYMPIA, Wash.) — Washington state legislators are looking to get ahead of some technological tools used for political misinformation before they say they further disrupt the public trust in government.
The state Senate passed a bill last month that would provide political candidates with legal safeguards in civil court against “deepfake” videos, audio and images that are used in political ads.
“Deepfakes” are typically any form of media that has been altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone, typically in a way that shows the person saying something that was never said.
Washington Sec. of State Steve Hobbs, who requested the bill, told ABC News that such altered videos haven’t been officially used in campaigns, but several groups around the world are using them with malicious intent.
“We’re trying to get ahead of it,” Hobbs told ABC News.
Hobbs cited a “deepfake” video released last year at the start of the Russian-Ukraine conflict that falsely showed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy call on soldiers to surrender to the Russians. Although viewers and world leaders were able to see through the deception and the video was taken down from social media sites, Hobbs said that the public is vulnerable to similar types of manipulation.
“The last thing you want is political campaigns or political action committees to put ads out of the ‘deepfakes’ of the person they are trying to vote out,” he said. “Even if that ad was up a day or two before people realize it’s a ‘deepfake’ it can cause damage.”
The bill defines synthetic media in campaigns for elective office as ” an image, an audio recording, or a video recording of an individual’s appearance, speech, or conduct that has been intentionally manipulated with the use of generative adversarial network techniques or other digital technology in a manner to create a realistic but false image, audio, or video that produces a depiction that to a reasonable individual is of a real individual in appearance, action, or speech that did not actually occur in reality.”
Under the bill, candidates who are the victim of a “deepfake” video could “seek injunctive or other equitable relief prohibiting the publication of such synthetic media.”
The bill passed the state Senate on Feb. 15 with a 35-15 vote.
The state House of Representatives held a public hearing in the State Government & Tribal Relations committee on March 10 and some constituents expressed concern about the language of the bill.
Joshua Hardwick, who works in video, told the committee he opposed the bill because the current language didn’t clarify what constitutes a “deepfake” or an image or video edited for clarity or artistic purposes.
“If I apply a filter, make a color image black and white or sepia, or I want to shorten a part of the content and some things that may not be considered synthetic would be included,” he testified.
Hobbs contended that the bill’s language clearly does not include photo or video edits in its definition. He added that it does not intend to infringe on people’s First Amendment rights.
“If you want through the First Amendment, go after someone with ads and you have a political stance, that’s your right. But to take someone’s image or video and change it to make it look like they’re making a speech that they didn’t say, that’s just wrong,” Hobbs said.
The timetable for the bill to be voted in the House committee and the full chamber haven’t been set. Hobbs said there will likely be tweaks to the language and amendments following the discourse but stressed that “deepfake” campaigns are topics that need legislative action fast.
“We have to do something, we just can’t do nothing. We need other states to put up [safeguards] and the federal government to take action,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, on Wednesday completed his testimony before a Manhattan grand jury investigating a 2016 hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Cohen answered questions from each of the grand jurors over the course of about two hours, before emerging from the courthouse and declaring himself “relieved.”
“I’m relieved that my role, for the time being, is now over,” Cohen said. “I’ve complied with every request that was asked of me by the district attorney’s office so they can review this case as best as they can.”
Cohen paid $130,000 to Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign to allegedly keep her quiet about an affair she claimed to have had with Trump. The former president has denied the affair and his attorneys have framed the funds as an extortion payment.
Cohen served prison time after he pleaded guilty to federal charges that included campaign finance violations related to the hush payment. Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, noted Wednesday that when federal prosecutors charged Cohen they said that Trump — identified in court records as Individual 1 — directed Cohen to make the $130,000 hush payment, after which his reimbursement to Cohen was falsely logged in the Trump Organization’s records, according to prosecutors.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is mulling whether to charge Trump with falsifying business records, sources have told ABC News.
Davis said, however, that he was uncertain whether the DA would move forward with an indictment of Trump.
“I am certain that they’ve been very thorough and factual,” Davis said.
No current or former U.S. president has even been indicted for criminal conduct.
Appearing on Fox News on Monday, Trump’s defense attorney, Joe Tacopina, questioned whether Cohen even had a law license when he served as Trump’s personal attorney.
On Wednesday Cohen was prepared with a retort: “I think Joe Tacopina needs to take a refresher course.”
(NEW YORK) — The failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the second-biggest bank collapse in U.S. history, called into doubt the fate of roughly $175 billion in customer deposits.
Days later, the U.S. government guaranteed the protection of all Silicon Valley Bank deposits but the turmoil left Americans with a lingering question: Is my money safe in the bank?
Robust insurance protections for bank deposits and the infrequency of bank failures afford security for account holders, making deposits safe even as the industry undergoes turmoil, experts told ABC News.
“It’s absolutely 100% safe,” Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told ABC News. “All depositors in banks and credit unions can be entirely confident that their money is safe.”
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, which safeguards the stability of the financial system, protects depositors at all FDIC-insured banks for up to $250,000 in funds for each different type of account held.
Nearly every bank is FDIC insured, and the vast majority of accounts fall below the $250,000 threshold.
In other words, bank account holders with $250,000 or less can rest assured that their money enjoys full protection from the U.S. government in the event of a bank failure.
A joint account between two individuals qualifies for FDIC insurance of up to $500,000.
Similarly, credit unions are insured by the National Credit Union Administration, a government agency.
In an effort to tamp down financial panic and prevent a wider crisis, the U.S. government dramatically expanded FDIC insurance protections to cover accounts at failed banks Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank that exceed the $250,000 threshold.
If other financial institutions collapse as a result of the fallout, the government will likely extend that full protection to depositors at the affected banks, Zandi said.
“There is no way at this point, given all the angst, that the government is going to allow a depositor to lose a penny,” he said.
In normal market conditions, however, depositors with funds that exceed $250,000 stand to lose part or all of the money if a bank goes belly up. Individuals or institutions with holdings that exceed that threshold can divide their money between multiple different account types or banks to keep each one below the threshold, Zandi said.
When an FDIC-insured bank collapses, a government agency typically takes control of the bank and soon afterward makes funds available to customers.
“In many cases, regulators go in and seize the banking operations and determine what deposits are owed and do their best to get those paid out within the next day or two,” Jeff Jones a finance professor at Missouri State University, told ABC News.
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Depositors can find solace not only in the robust insurance protections but also in the knowledge that U.S. bank failures are very rare, experts said.
Not a single bank failure took place last year or the year before, according to research firm Bankrate. In 2010, at the height of the Great Recession, 157 banks failed.
For context, there are 4,706 commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the FDIC, the agency said last month.
“You can calculate the probability,” Zandi said. “It’s pretty small.”
Despite the collapse of two of the nation’s 30-largest banks in recent days, the possibility of widespread bank failures remains highly unlikely, the experts said, noting extraordinary government intervention that helped contain the damage to the financial system.
“I feel confident that the financial system is on very solid footing,” Zandi said. “The government intervention here was extremely aggressive.”
Besides raising awareness about how to protect one’s funds in the bank, the downfall of Silicon Valley Bank also offers lessons for how to invest money elsewhere, the experts said.
Silicon Valley Bank had loaded up on investments into long-term Treasury bonds and mortgage bonds, which typically deliver small but reliable returns amid low interest rates.
As the Federal Reserve aggressively hiked interest rates over the past year, however, those holdings lost significant value.
The takeaway for individuals is the importance of diversification, the experts said, defining that principle as the placement of funds into a range of investments.
“As long as you’re well-diversified, any kind of issue you have will likely be very small and contained,” Jones said.
