January 15, 2025
I need you to listen to what Pam Bondi – Trump’s pick for attorney general says about TikTok.
You’re probably thinking…she didn’t say anything – why is Lisa showing this to me? Because she said a lot without saying anything at all.
First – you have to understand the man asking the questions — Senator Richard Blumenthal a Democrat from Connecticut. He is a big time supporter of the TikTok ban. And he was asking Pam Bondi – president elect Trump’s pick to be the next attorney general who would be responsible for enforcing laws — whether –if confirmed as attorney general of the United States – will she enforce the TikTok ban.
Her answer was very lawyery but also very political.
The lawyery part of it is not surprising. She said it’s pending litigation so she can’t discuss it. Which is accurate and it’s very typical for a lawyer or attorney general to site pending litigation as a reason for not answering the question. The fact is — it is pending litigation. We are currently waiting for the Supreme Court to make a decision on whether or not the law that congress passed that established the TikTok ban is constitutional. So that part of her answer is not surprising.
But the political side of her answer says a lot. So in case you weren’t aware, the lawyer who argued TikTok’s case in front of the supreme court last week was Noel Francisco. He worked for the Department of Justice as the solicitor general of the United States during Trump’s first term. From 2017 to 2020 Noel Francisco was the guy responsible for going to the Supreme Court and arguing for the Trump administration when defending the United States. So that’s why Senator Blumenthal pointed it out. What the senator is suggesting is that Francisco was a trump’s guy back then and now he’s advocating for TikTok as TikTok’s lawyer. Couple that with the fact that the president elect has suggested recently that he wants to save TikTok in some way– there is talk of the possibility that if the supreme court decides the ban can move forward that trump will just direct his next attorney general – possibly Pam Bondi to just not enforce the law.
With that context listen again to Bondi’s answer to whether she will if confirmed as attorney general enforce the TikTok ban.
She’ll talk to the career prosecutors handling the case? That’s definitely not a “yes Senator I will enforce the law.” That’s a meeeeh I don’t’ really want to answer that because I don’t want to say on the record what I’m going to do.
Of course Trump – once he takes office – can ask the attorney general maybe Pam Bondi – to not enforce the TikTok ban law. Whether she listens to him or not – clearly – no one knows.
