Trump Says He Has a ‘Heat Spot in His Coronary heart’ for TikTok

President Donald Trump mentioned Sunday he’d provide TikTok one other extension ought to the social media app fail to discover a purchaser by the June 19 deadline.

Throughout an look on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump advised host Kristen Welker that he had a “heat spot in his coronary heart” for TikTok and that he’d prefer to see the favored app stay out there in the USA.

“TikTok is — it is very attention-grabbing, however will probably be protected,” he mentioned in a pre-taped interview carried out at his Mar-a-Lago membership on Friday.

It is the most recent improvement within the ongoing saga involving TikTok in the USA.

In 2020, Trump unsuccessfully sought to ban TikTok in the USA as a result of he believed its Chinese language proprietor, ByteDance, posed safety considerations. He additionally as soon as advised it was a type of punishment for what he noticed as China’s function within the COVID-19 outbreak.

Former President Joe Biden later picked up the baton, signing a legislation final yr that requires TikTok to divest from ByteDance or face a ban from US app shops.

The US Supreme Courtroom upheld the legislation in January. TikTok then briefly shut down its app to US customers earlier than Trump promised to discover a answer.

Trump started to vary his tune on TikTok throughout his 2024 marketing campaign, throughout which he mentioned younger folks in the USA would “go loopy with out” it. Many observers have credited TikTok’s attain in serving to Trump join with a large swath of voters, particularly amongst younger People who dominate the app’s person base.

After Trump took workplace, he signed a 75-day extension for TikTok to discover a purchaser, which expired on April 5. On April 4, Trump introduced he would subject one other 75-day extension.

A variety of rich People have publicly expressed curiosity in buying TikTok, together with “Shark Tank” mogul Kevin O’Leary and YouTube energy creator MrBeast.