TikTok CEO on defense over security, censorship claims at hearing
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TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced intense questioning and found few, if any, allies in the room while testifying for several hours before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday. One lawmaker quipped partway through the hearing that the TikTok head was addressing "the most bipartisan committee in Congress" amid numerous testy exchanges with members of the panel from both parties. Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) called TikTok an "extension" of the Chinese Communist Party while Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) questioned whether the platform used content moderation tools to remove posts about the Chinese government's treatment of the Uyghur ethnic group or the Tiananmen Square massacre. Multiple members voiced support for legislation to ban the video-sharing app in the U.S., something the Biden administration has weighed. Chinese officials said before the hearing they would fiercely oppose any forced sale of the platform by its Chinese parent company ByteDance. TikTok is currently banned from federal government-owned devices and government devices in some states. Chew maintained during the hearing that the Chinese government doesn't have access to TikTok users' data via ByteDance and sought to tout efforts the company has taken to protect younger and vulnerable users. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union and 15 other organizations sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers not to place a nationwide ban on the platform, arguing it'd have "serious ramifications for free expression." |
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Welcome to Evening Report! I'm Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what's coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) presented a report from Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee on the projected effects of a national default.
Accenture, a tech consulting company, announced it's laying off around 19,000 people. North Carolina expanded Medicaid on the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, leaving 10 states that have opted not to do so.
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🗽 Bragg responds to GOP committee chairs
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sent a letter to GOP committee chairs saying their call for him to turn over documents and communications about the ongoing hush-money case involving former President Trump was "an unprecedent[ed] inquiry into a pending local prosecution." Bragg said the request from the chairs, including Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), "only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene." The DA offered to "meet and confer to understand whether the Committee has any legitimate legislative purpose in the requested materials that could be accommodated." The Manhattan grand jury's meetings Wednesday and Thursday were cancelled, and it's scheduled to meet again on Monday. Trump on Thursday called for the removal of Bragg and three other law enforcement officials leading investigations into the former president. |
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🇨🇦 Biden bound for Canada
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President Biden is heading to Ottawa Thursday evening for the first trip of his term to Canada. He'll meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and address parliament during the trip. From The Hill's Brett Samuels: "Biden has visited Canada before, including in 2016 during his final year as vice president. When he returns this week, he and Trudeau will again emphasize the U.S.-Canada relationship in a bilateral meeting Friday[.]" Ukraine, Haiti, migration and climate change will be on the agenda during the trip. Read more here. |
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④ Major moments from other hearings Thursday
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Here are four major moments from the day's committee hearings, beyond TikTok: 1. Afghanistan withdrawal House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) demanded Secretary of State Antony Blinken turn over a dissent cable related to the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan by Monday. The Hill's Laura Kelly wrote that McCaul sees the cable "as critically important to understanding why the Biden administration failed to anticipate the fall of the American-backed government and takeover by the Taliban," while "Blinken said his department was holding back the physical copy of the cable to maintain the integrity of the Dissent Channel[.]" 2. Defense spending Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testified at a House Appropriations Committee hearing. The Hill's Brad Dress wrote, "In their most extensive public comments yet on potential budget reductions, the defense chiefs pushed back against an agreement reached earlier this year among more conservative House Republicans to cap all discretionary spending at fiscal year 2022 levels, which has led to concerns about defense spending cuts." 3. Transportation Department definitions Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that the department is reviewing its definition of "high-hazard flammable train" after the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment in February. 4. Gun regulation Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin Oliver died in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was arrested after being removed from a joint committee hearing on gun regulation. |
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© Photo provided by Hard Rock Café International |
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🎸 New hotel design features giant guitar
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Las Vegas's Hard Rock Hotel plan features a back-to-back guitar design and an overall 660-foot height, requiring approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. |
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🔴 The Main Street Caucus, reborn
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The Hill's Emily Brooks does a deep dive into the 70-plus-member House Main Street Caucus, its new leadership and its ideological positioning among four other influential GOP caucuses. |
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★ Texas's GOP legislature makes move against local ordinances
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The Hill's Saul Elbein breaks down the state vs. local preemption conflict in Texas, where companion bills in the GOP-dominated legislature "would nullify any local ordinances that could fall under the rubric of the state's labor, natural resources, agriculture, insurance or occupations codes — unless the legislature writes specific legislation directly permitting a rule." |
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"Biden backs woke ESG investing" — Liz Peek, former partner of Wertheim & Company. (Read here) "Mellman: 'Big Government' Republicanism" — Mark Mellman, president of The Mellman Group and the Democratic Majority for Israel. (Read here) |
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593 days until the presidential election. |
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9 a.m.: The House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing on the Biden administration's 2023 trade policy agenda. Also Friday: President Biden will speak to members of the Canadian parliament. |
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There a story you think should be getting more attention? Something people should be talking about? Drop me a line: alatour@thehill.com | |
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