Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Bonnie Raitt has announced a new set of tour dates for 2025.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s newest tour will launch March 5 in Temecula, California, hitting such cities as Phoenix, Albuquerque, Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale, Memphis and more before wrapping May 10 in Louisville, Kentucky, although more dates are expected to be announced.
Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.
But Bonnie still has some shows left in her 2024 schedule. On Wednesday she’ll bring her tour to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a benefit concert supporting communities impacted by Hurricane Helene. A complete list of dates can be found at bonnieraitt.com.
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said transgender women cannot use women’s restrooms in the Capitol and House office buildings. This also applies to changing rooms and locker rooms, Johnson said.
“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” the statement said Wednesday.
Johnson continued, “It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol.”
Mace said Tuesday that the bill she introduced to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol was “absolutely” in response to Rep.-elect Sarah McBride’s entering Congress.
“Yes, and absolutely. And then some,” Mace told reporters at the Capitol.
“I’m not going to stand for a man, you know, someone with a penis, in the women’s locker room,” she said.
In terms of how Johnson plans to enforce this policy is not entirely clear, but the speaker has “general control” of facilities, according to House rules.
After winning her election earlier this month to be Delaware’s sole representative in the House, McBride will be the first openly trans member of Congress.
McBride responded to Mace in a post on X, saying, “This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Isabella Murray and John Parkinson contributed to this report.
(ROCHESTER, N.Y.) — Four University of Rochester students were arrested and another is under investigation for allegedly being involved with the antisemitic “Wanted” posters found on campus.
The posters were discovered last week in classrooms and other buildings and targeted Jewish members of the community, according to university officials.
The four unidentified suspects, who were arrested Tuesday, will be charged with felony criminal mischief, according to University of Rochester Police Chief Quchee Collins.
“I am incredibly satisfied that through a thorough investigation, we were able to identify those who are allegedly responsible and hold them accountable for the deliberate and deplorable actions targeted toward members of our University community, including members of our Jewish population,” he said in a statement.
Collins said the incident currently doesn’t “meet the legal threshold for being a hate crime,” but stressed that could change, especially at the state and federal levels. The investigation is ongoing.
“From the very start of our investigation, DPS investigators collected all of the necessary evidence and made all of the needed inquiries to prompt a proper evaluation of this incident as a hate crime,” he said.
University of Rochester President Sarah Mangelsdorf denounced the posters last week.
“This goes against everything we stand for, and we have an obligation to reject it,” she said in a statement.
University officials said facilities workers had to “painstakingly” remove the posters from campus because the strong adhesive used to put up them up caused damage to walls, floors, chalkboards and other surfaces.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
Killswitch Engage has announced a new album called This Consequence.
The ninth studio effort from the Massachusetts metallers, and their first since 2019’s Atonement, arrives Feb. 21. You can listen to lead single “Forever Aligned” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying video on YouTube.
“This Consequence, to me, is the combination of everything the past five years has thrown at us as a band, as humans, and society as a whole,” says frontman Jesse Leach. “This album is just as much about everybody and their stories as it is for me about my journey personally.”
“Sonically, I love the combination of everybody’s ideas and contributions on this album,” Leach adds. “It feels more like a collaboration than the past few records have been. When all is said and done, I wouldn’t change anything about this album.”
Killswitch will launch a U.S. tour in support of This Consequence in March.
Here’s the This Consequence track list: “Abandon Us” “Discordant Nation” “Aftermath” “Forever Aligned” “I Believe” “Where It Dies” “Collusion” “The Fall of Us” “Broken Glass” “Requiem”
Christina Aguilera isn’t the only famous female pop star from a previous generation to sing Sabrina Carpenter‘s praises: Katy Perry has thanked the “Espresso” singer for helping her to maintain her status as a “fun aunt.”
Katy, who attended Sabrina’s Short n’ Sweet LA concert on Nov. 17, posted photos and video of herself in the audience and backstage, hanging with Sabrina and her nieces. “soooo @sabrinacarpenter show was too short but so sweet,” she wrote.
“Thanks for solidifying my FUNTIE status with my nieces & for playing my fave song ‘Lie to Girls,'” Katy continued. “IT JUST KILLS ME CAUSE IT FEELS LIKE YOUVE READ EVERY GIRLS DIARY WRITING THAT SONG.”
In the song, from Sabrina’s Short n’ Sweet album, she talks about how women will enable men’s bad behavior by making excuses for it. “You don’t have to lie to girls,” she sings. “If they like you, they’ll just lie to themselves/ Don’t I know it better than anyone else?”
As previously reported, while at the concert Katy was seen catching up with her ex-boyfriend John Mayer. You may recall that the two even recorded a duet together: 2013’s “Who You Love.” Last year John said he still listens to the song every once in a while.
Country Music’s Biggest Night is about to get bigger.
It’s been announced that Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, Chris Stapleton, Parker McCollum and JameyJohnson will perform a tribute to George Strait onstage.
Their performance will happen after George receives his 2024 CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Past CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award recipients include Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Alan Jackson, Loretta Lynn, Charley Pride, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson.
The 58th annual CMA Awards, hosted by Lainey, Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu.
Viola Davis has been named the recipient of the Golden Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Wednesday. She’ll be recognized at the annual show for her outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.
“Viola Davis is a luminary whose profound talent has continuously shifted the lens through which we see and understand film,” Golden Globes President Helen Hoehne said in a statement. “Presenting her with the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille Award is not only an honor but a reflection of our admiration for her relentless dedication to her craft and her monumental impact on the industry.”
She continued, “Viola’s courage in portraying complex, powerful characters has broken barriers and paved new paths, making her an emblem of excellence and an ideal recipient of this prestigious award.”
Viola, an EGOT winner, earned an Emmy for her performance as Annalise Keating on ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder. She won the Best Audio Narration Grammy for her memoir, Finding Me;an Oscar for her onscreen and offscreen work on Fences;and a Tony for Best Featured Actress in the play King Hedley II.
Davis has also won seven Golden Globes throughout the course of her career, taking home awards for How to Get Away with Murder,Fences, The Woman King, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Help and Doubt.
She’s set to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 82nd annual Golden Globes, joining previous recipients Oprah Winfrey, Eddie Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and more.
“Thrilled! Overwhelmed! Honored! Thank you @GoldenGlobes,” Viola wrote of the honor on Instagram.
The 2025 Golden Globe Awards air live on CBS and Paramount Jan. 5 starting at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.
(BELLEVUE, Wash.) — Two people have been killed by falling trees in Washington state as a powerful storm hits the Pacific Northwest.
In Bellevue, a tree fell into a home, hitting and killing a woman while she was in the shower Tuesday night, Bellevue fire officials said.
In Lynwood, a woman in her 50s was killed when a tree fell on a homeless encampment, officials said.
More than 500,000 customers are without power in Washington state on Wednesday.
The storm exploded into a bomb cyclone off the coast, near Vancouver Island, Canada, where winds gusted near 101 mph.
A bomb cyclone means the pressure in the center of the storm drops 24 millibars within 24 hours.
Wind gusts reached 50 to 84 mph from Northern California to Washington.
As the storm sits and spins over the ocean this week, it will help to push a plume of Pacific moisture called an atmospheric river into Oregon and Northern California.
Alerts are in effect through Friday for flooding, snow, avalanches and high winds.
Some places could see more than 1 foot of rain this week. A flood watch has been issued in Northern California.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza — particularly in the north of the strip — and in Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on targets nationwide including in the capital Beirut. The strikes form the backdrop for a fresh diplomatic push by the White House ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January.
Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after the former launched what it called “precise strikes on military targets” in several locations in Iran following Tehran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.
US vetos Gaza UN Security Council cease-fire resolution
The U.S. vetoed another United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza because it did not include a hostage release.
This is the 12th time the Security Council voted on a draft resolution since the war in Gaza started 13 months ago.
At least 43,972 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
In June, the Security Council passed a U.S.-drafted cease-fire deal that President Joe Biden approved. At the time, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said “we voted for peace.”
US sanctions Hamas leaders as officials say group’s political wing has rebased in Turkey
The U.S. is rolling out sanctions against six senior Hamas leaders accused of facilitating the transfer of weapons and funds into Gaza to support the group’s terror activities as well as smuggling in construction materials to build the underground tunnels critical to its operations, according to the Biden administration.
“There is no distinction between Hamas’ so-called military wing and its political leadership,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement announcing the tranche of sanctions.
Three of the targeted individuals are based in Turkey, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Despite the denials coming from Hamas and the Turkish government, two U.S. officials say that the bulk of Hamas’ political wing has now relocated to Turkey following the group’s ouster from Qatar.
The U.S. has turned a blind eye to Hamas’ relationship with NATO ally Turkey for years, which allows the U.S. designated terror group to openly recruit, fundraise and interface with its government officials.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he hopes to strengthen ties with the U.S. when President-elect Donald Trump takes office. However, Trump’s cabinet is expected to feature many staunchly pro-Israel voices who will object to Turkey’s tolerance of Hamas — potentially complicating Erdogan’s plans.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Hospitals in northern Gaza running out of medical supplies, requesting patient transfers as attacks continue
Kamal Adwan Hospital is running out of medical supplies, and more people with cases of malnutrition are arriving at the hospital because of the lack of food and water allowed into northern Gaza, the hospital director said in comments Tuesday.
“There are a number of cases of malnutrition that have begun to arrive, including children and the elderly,” Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital said.
“The health system is working under extremely harsh conditions to the point that we have started losing numbers of infected people due to the lack of medical supplies,” Abu Safia added.
At least 50 people were killed, and 110 people were injured in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestine Red Crescent Society transferred 15 patients from Al Awda Hospital in north Gaza to Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City Sunday, the ICRC said in a statement Tuesday. The patient transfers were requested by the hospitals, the ICRC said.
The organizations also delivered medical supplies to three hospitals in Gaza City Monday, the ICRC said in a post on X.
“The delivery and medical transfer came in the wake of another large-scale attack in the Beit Lahia area of the Northern Governorate, in which dozens of people were killed and many more injured,” the ICRC said.
-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Sami Zyara
UN peacekeepers, buildings targeted in 3 incidents in south Lebanon
United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon and facilities were targeted in “three separate incidents in south Lebanon,” Tuesday, UNIFIL said in a post on X.
Four Ghanian peacekeepers on duty “sustained injures as a rocket … hit their base,” UNIFIL said in a post on X. Three of the injured peacekeepers were transferred to a hospital in Tyre, Lebanon for treatment, UNIFIL said.
In a different attack, a UNIFIL building was “impacted by five rockets,” UNIFIL said.
“In another incident, UNIFIL Sector West Headquarters in Shama was impacted by five rockets, which struck the maintenance workshop,” UNIFIL said. “Although it caused heavy damage to the workshop, no peacekeeper was injured. This was the second time this UNIFIL base was impacted by the ongoing clashes in the area in less than a week.”
In a third incident, a UNIFIL patrol was “passing through” a village, and “an armed person directly fired at the patrol,” UNIFIL said. No injuries were reported from this incident.
UNIFIL is investigating the incidents and has informed the Lebanese armed forces about them, UNIFIL said.
“UNIFIL once again reminds all actors involved in the ongoing hostilities to respect the inviolability of United Nations peacekeepers and premises,” UNIFIL said in a post on X.
5 killed, 31 injured after Israeli strike on central Beirut
At least five people were killed, 31 were injured and at least two people remain missing after an Israeli airstrike in the Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhood of central Beirut, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
The Israeli Defense Forces did not issue a warning before conducting this airstrike on central Beirut Monday.
At least 28 people were killed and 107 were wounded across Lebanon from Israeli attacks Monday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
Overall, 3,544 people have been killed, and 15,036 have been injured since Israel’s increased attacks on the country began in mid-September, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said in a post on X.
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein met with Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut Tuesday, according to Lebanese state media.
After meeting with Hochstein for two hours, Berri said the cease-fire negotiations were “good in principle,” but warned Israel could change its minds about the proposal as it has done before.
Berri said the U.S. is managing guarantees about Israel’s position on the proposal, according to Lebanese state media.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
Israel kills 5 in central Beirut strike, officials say
At least five people were killed and 31 wounded by an Israeli strike in the Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhood of central Beirut on Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Two other people are missing.
The Israel Defense Forces did not appear to issue any public evacuation order prior to the strike. ABC News has reached out to the IDF for comment on the target of the strike.
The attack made Monday the second consecutive day of Israeli strikes within central Beirut. To date, the vast majority of airstrikes on the capital have hit the southern Dahiya suburb, known as a Hezbollah stronghold.
Israel has intensified its bombardment in and around Beirut over the past week, while Hezbollah has continued missile fire into Israel. Fresh discussions are ongoing as to a potential cease-fire to end the fighting.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor, Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Israel demands ‘immediate’ action against pro-Iran militias in Iraq
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday published a letter sent to the president of the United Nations Security Council in which he called for “immediate action regarding the activity of the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, whose territory is being used to attack Israel.”
“The Iraqi government is responsible for everything that happens on its territory,” Saar wrote, noting Israel’s right to self-defense.
“I called on the Security Council to act urgently to make sure that the Iraqi government meets its obligations under international law and to make these attacks on Israel stop,” Saar said.
Iran-backed Iraqi militias have been launching drone attacks into Israel from the east in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, with whom Israeli forces have been engaged since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Nearly 100 aid trucks looted: UNRWA
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Monday their aid convoy was “violently” looted over the weekend, one of the largest such cases of looting since the war began.
The 109-truck U.N. convoy was carrying food supplies to people in Gaza when it was looted on Saturday, UNRWA said.
“The vast majority of the trucks, 97 in total, were lost and drivers were forced at gunpoint to unload aid,” UNRWA said in a statement.
UNRWA said the Israel Defense Forces made the convoy leave a day earlier than planned.
The IDF has not yet commented on this incident.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Israel’s October attack damaged some of Iran’s nuclear program: Netanyahu
Israel damaged some of Iran’s nuclear program in its October attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.
Iran’s air defense, ballistic missile production and ability to produce “solid fuel” were impacted, Netanyahu said during remarks to Israel’s parliament.
“There is a certain element of their nuclear program that was damaged in this attack,” he said, though added that its ability to operate “has not yet been thwarted.”
Netanyahu said Iran’s nuclear threat must be dealt with.
“If we don’t deal with the nuclear program, then all the other problems will come back and resurface, both in the axis, and in armaments, and in other things,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also said Israel is “currently talking about possible negotiations for a settlement” to be reached between Israel and Lebanon, but added, “Even if there is a cease-fire, no one says it will last.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
US envoy en route to Lebanon for cease-fire talks, official says
U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein is on his way to Lebanon for talks on a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, an official familiar with the plans confirmed to ABC News.
Hochstein left from the U.S. for Lebanon on Monday, the official said.
Israel is getting close to being ready to agree to the U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal, which is very similar to the proposal that was floated by the U.S. at the end of September. The U.S. needs to see how Hezbollah feels about this proposal, which is what Hochstein aims to do during his trip, according to the official.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
4 killed in Israeli attack in Beirut: Health ministry
Four people were killed and at least 18 injured in an Israeli attack in Beirut, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said Monday.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
1 killed, 10 injured in strike on residential building in Israel: Officials
A woman was killed and 10 people injured after a Hezbollah rocket directly hit a residential building in northern Israel, Israeli emergency services said Monday.
Dozens of projectiles were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel Monday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces said. Not all of the projectiles were intercepted, the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
US sanctions entity, 3 individuals tied to West Bank violence
The State Department said Monday it is sanctioning three individuals and one entity for allegedly undermining “peace, security, and stability in the West Bank.”
The department accuses the entity, Eyal Hari Yehuda Company LTD, of having supported Yinon Levi, an Israeli settler who was sanctioned by the Biden administration over accusations of attacks and harassment against Palestinians earlier this year.
The three impacted individuals are Itamar Levi, Shabtai Koshlevsky and Zohar Sabah, the State Department said. Itamar Levi, the brother of Yinon Levi, is being designated for his role as the owner of the aforementioned company, while Koshlevsky is accused of holding a leadership position at Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that provides material support to U.S.-designated outposts in the West Bank and was sanctioned in August of this year.
Sabah is accused of engaging “in threats and acts of violence against Palestinians, including in their homes” as well as “a pattern of destructiveness targeting the livestock, grazing lands and homes of local Palestinians to disrupt their means of support,” the State Department said in a press release.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Hamas denies that leaders relocated from Qatar to Turkey
Hamas denied reports in Israeli media that its leadership has relocated from Qatar to Turkey amid a breakdown in Doha-supported cease-fire talks earlier this month.
Hamas dismissed the news reports as “rumors” spread by Israeli authorities in a statement posted to its official website.
Qatar told Israel and Hamas earlier this month it could not continue to mediate cease-fire and hostage release talks “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate a deal in good faith.”
Doha is under U.S. pressure to expel Hamas leaders. A senior administration official told ABC News earlier this month that the group’s “continued presence in Doha is no longer viable or acceptable.”
-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz, Shannon K. Kingston and Somayeh Malekian
Gaza death toll nears 44,000, health officials say
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that 43,922 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7, 2023, with nearly 104,000 more injured.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 96 people and wounded at least 60 in Gaza through the weekend, officials said. The dead included 72 people in north Gaza and more than 20 from other areas of the strip.
Most of those killed were displaced women and children sheltering in residential buildings in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, officials said.
Beit Lahiya is at the heart of the Israel Defense Forces’ recent northern offensive, which has been accompanied with sweeping evacuation orders and spiking civilian casualties.
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Joe Simonetti
Hezbollah positive on US cease-fire proposal, reports say
Hezbollah responded positively to the U.S.-proposed cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon, Israeli and Lebanese media reported Monday.
U.S. special envoy for Lebanon Amos Hochstein is expected to arrive in Beirut on Tuesday to discuss the proposal before heading to Israel to speak with leaders there.
The proposal is reportedly based on the United Nations Security Council’s resolution 1701 that sought to end the last major cross-border conflict in 2006.
That deal ordered Hezbollah to withdraw all military units and weapons north of the Litani River, which is around 18 miles north of the Israeli border. The resolution also prohibited Israeli ground and air forces from crossing into Lebanese territory.
Israeli leaders have demanded open-ended freedom to act against threats in Lebanon, a stipulation reportedly opposed by Hezbollah and Lebanese leaders.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Khamenei meets with ambassador injured in pager attacks
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with the country’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, as the latter continues his recovery from injuries sustained during Israel’s detonation of Hezbollah communication devices in September.
Khamenei’s official X account posted a short video of their interaction on Monday, in which Amani told the Iranian leader he lost around half of the vision in his right eye in the attack.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hezbollah media relations chief killed in Israeli strike
Mohammed Afif, Hezbollah’s media relations chief, was killed in an Israeli strike Sunday, Hezbollah confirmed.
The strike on central Beirut partially collapsed a building and injured three others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The Israel Defense Forces also confirmed Afif’s death. In a statement, the IDF said he joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and went on to become a “central and veteran figure in the organization who greatly influenced Hezbollah’s military activity.”
Citing one particular incident, the statement claimed that he had played a key role in the drone attack on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea in October.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Pope calls for investigation to determine whether Israeli attacks on Gaza are ‘genocide’
Pope Francis, in an upcoming book to be released ahead of his 2025 jubilee, called for an investigation to determine whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, according to the Vatican.
“In the Middle East, where the open doors of nations like Jordan or Lebanon continue to be a salvation for millions of people fleeing conflicts in the region: I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,” he wrote in a passage released by the Vatican.
“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope wrote. “It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”
(WASHINGTON) — As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, one of his first orders of business will be to decide about the fate of TikTok in the United States — and some of his cabinet appointees appear to be split on the issue.
Sources familiar with the president-elect’s thinking told ABC News that he may try to stop the ban of the popular social media app, which according to a new law must either find a new U.S. owner by Jan. 19 or face a ban.
Trump’s pick to lead the FCC, Brendan Carr, signaled support for banning TikTok in 2022.
“I think either a total ban or some sort of action like that that’s going to completely sever the corporate links back into Beijing,” Carr told NPR, referencing concerns about possible data usage on the Chinese-owned app.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz — Trump’s controversial pick to for attorney general, who would lead the department that would enforce any ban — voted against a ban of the app while he was a member of the House — though he signaled some support for the initiative.
“Banning TikTok is the right idea. But this legislation was overly broad, rushed and unavailable for amendment or revision. This is no way to run a railroad (or the internet),” Gaetz wrote on X, formerly Twitter, at the time.
TikTok and its parents company, ByteDance, have sued the U.S. government over the potential ban, ABC News previously reported, saying it’s unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment, while pushing back on claims about the app being security risk.
“Congress itself has offered nothing to suggest that the TikTok platform poses the types of risks to data security or the spread of foreign propaganda that could conceivably justify the act,” TikTok’s lawsuit said.
A spokesperson for Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
As ABC News previously reported, Trump could try to stop the ban through a number of methods, including pushing Congress to repeal the law banning the app, refusing to enforce the ban, or helping TikTok find a U.S. buyer to comply with the law and render the issue moot.
The ban of the app was spearheaded in Congress by former Rep. Mike Gallagher, who said in an April interview with the New York Times that TikTok posed an “espionage threat” and a “propaganda threat” and that China is “America’s foremost adversary.”
Responding to allegations regarding TikTok, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Nig last year said that China “has never and will not” direct companies to illegally collect data in other countries, according to The New York Times.
In testimony before Congress, TikTok’s CEO also said the app was “free from any manipulation from any government” and that he had “seen no evidence that the Chinese government has access to that data. They have never asked us, we have not provided it,” according to NPR.
Gallagher resigned early this year and took a job with software company Palantir Technologies. A spokesperson for Gallagher rebuffed questions raised at the time over his swift move to Palantir, a company that was vocal about its opposition to TikTok, according to Forbes magazine.
“Congressman Gallagher knows and complies with the House Rules, which includes those about negotiating outside employment,” the spokesperson said in a statement regarding the Forbes report.
