According to recently released documents, Attorney General Pam Bondi made a broad assertion that President Trump has the constitutional authority to overturn laws, telling tech companies that they may legally break a law that forbids American businesses from assisting TikTok.
Ms. Bondi stated in letters to Google and Apple that Mr. Trump had determined that closing TikTok would conflict with his constitutional obligations, therefore the legislation prohibiting the social media app must yield to his primary presidential responsibilities in foreign policy and national security.
According to the letters, which were made public on Thursday through Freedom of Information Act litigation, Mr. Trump has revoked the legal consequences of a legislation that was unanimously affirmed by the Supreme Court and passed by Congress in 2024 with sizable bipartisan majorities.
Mr. Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office, instructing the Justice Department to halt the TikTok ban’s implementation. He has since extended it on several occasions. His many other actions that stretch the limits of executive power in the first few months of his second administration have eclipsed that step.
However, several legal experts view Mr. Trump’s action—and specifically his order’s assertion that he has the authority to allow businesses to legally violate the statute—as his most egregious attempt to seize power, which Ms. Bondi supported in her letters. According to them, it seems to establish a noteworthy new standard for the possible scope of presidential power.
The content of the article is not being retrieved.
Please make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser.
We appreciate your patience as we check access. Please log out of Reader mode and sign in to your Times account, or subscribe to The Times in its entirety.
We appreciate your patience as we check access.
Are you a subscriber already?Sign in.
Do you want to read every Times article?Sign up.