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Inaugural Events Kick off with Fireworks Celebration; TikTok Warns Americans It is About to Shut Down; Trump Says He "Most Likely" Will Delay TikTok Ban; Gaza Ceasefire Set to Take Effect in Hours. Aired 10-11 pm ET
Aired January 18, 2025 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[22:01:02]
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Thanks for joining me tonight. I'm Erica Hill. This is a special edition of CNN Newsroom.
Tonight, President-elect Donald Trump kicking off his inauguration event and marking his return to office with some big celebrations.
Those fireworks just moments ago at Trump's golf club. A reception and fireworks show there in Virginia. Prior to the show there in the sky, a dinner was held for Trump's incoming cabinet picks at the National Gallery of Art.
CNN's Alayna Treene is following all the developments for us. So what more do we know about tonight's inaugural events, Alayna?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah, well, this is really the kickoff to what's going to be a very busy weekend and a lot of celebrations for Donald Trump and a lot of his aides and allies. Now, tonight, as you saw, at his Sterling Golf Club, which is located in Virginia, just outside D.C., there was a big fireworks display, as well as Donald Trump really gathered his full cabinet in one place for the first time, where they took that big photo. And then they had dinner, as well as, as I mentioned, a larger reception.
Now, tomorrow, we're also going to see Donald Trump have a series of events. Tomorrow morning, he's expected to go to Arlington National Cemetery and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony.
Later in the day, he's going to have a rally for -- it's not a campaign anymore -- a rally just before Inauguration Day, one that was really designed to -- for his supporters, many of the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people who have come to D.C. for that event.
And then, of course, Monday is going to be the big day where Donald Trump, as well as J.D. Vance, the Vice President-elect, are both going to be sworn in inside the Capitol Rotunda this year. Not outdoors, as originally planned. And really, again, many balls, many different celebrations, many different events that Donald Trump is going to be partaking in. But tonight, as you can see there with that fireworks show, really the start to it all.
HILL: You also have some new reporting, Alayna, as I understand it, on countries that Donald Trump is hoping to visit in the early days of his second term. What more do we know about those plans?
TREENE: That's right, we do. So, in some of my conversations and this is according to sources familiar with the matter behind closed doors, Donald Trump has been telling advisors that he's interested in taking a trip to China once he is president.
Now, it's unclear exactly what the timeline for that could look like. And I'm told as well in talking to Donald Trump's advisors that there are no firm plans for anything like that. They haven't begun really working out the details for that. But mainly that Donald Trump has expressed interest in it.
And I'm also told he's talked about wanting to visit a number of other countries, as well. Including India to visit the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, someone who has a warm relationship with. But of course, this is so notable because of Donald Trump's really interesting relationship with China.
He has a very hardline policy against China. He ran on wanting to target China. But we also know he's really been trying to keep an open dialogue with foreign adversaries, including China's President Xi Jinping, who he spoke with on Friday.
Erica?
HILL: Alayna, I appreciate it. Thank you.
Back with me now to discuss CNN Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston, CNN Political Commentator Scott Jennings, and Ashley Allison, and presidential historian Douglas Brinkley (technical difficulty) to a very different Washington, right, than for his first inauguration. Republicans control Congress. He's got a tight grip on his party. He's got tech leaders cozying up to him. There is far less resistance than in the initial days of a Donald Trump first term. How do you see him playing that?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: You know, Erica, I recall when Donald Trump had his first inaugural, and in January, you had the great women's protest march in D.C., and it was sending a loud message that women were not going to tolerate what they thought would be Trump misogyny.
And you had a protest here in Washington today, but it's less -- the resistance isn't there yet to the second Trump. Largely because Democrats are so demoralized.
[22:05:19]
Also, Biden is leaving. And the question is, who's the head of the Democratic Party? Who's leading the new wave? And I think it probably is Barack Obama that now really has to be the leader of the Democratic Party as they figure out how to regroup. And people will be looking at what Democrats showed up for Trump's second inaugural and which ones didn't. And that will become -- that's the current divide in the Democratic Party. But they're going to have to pull their act together soon to have a resistance for Trump, because right now, he is on a roll.
HILL: Mark, there's been so much talk about how sort of disjointed Democrats are post-election. Have you seen any evidence that they're starting to coalesce?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, not at all. In fact, you know, as Doug said, they're so demoralized right now, we're even seeing a fight over the direction of the party. But the fight is not between, you would think, young women or people of color.
It's basically between two gentlemen who are from the Midwest who are vying to become the new head of the Democratic National Committee. They just so happen to be white fellows, you know, that are going to lead the party.
What's interesting, though, that they're both talking about is they're talking about turning around and having the national party be run basically out of the states, not necessarily here in Washington, D.C.
Now, whether or not that can happen or not, we'll have to see. But at this point, the demoralization right now has really knocked the Democrats off their game. And honestly, they have to do something quickly. And I think Ashley was talking about it last hour, which is, right, move on, see where you can work on, and try to win where you can win.
HILL: We will see how that goes. Meantime, we have a lot coming up, as we know, this weekend. This is going to be, on Monday, this is Donald Trump's day.
Scott, when it comes to his inauguration speech, I was there last time at the inauguration. It was pretty dark, that talk of American carnage. What are you expecting, especially for a speech that, you know, it was so interesting the first time around. I'll leave it at that. What do you think he'll say? What would you like him to say this time around?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, far be it for me to predict what Donald Trump might do or say, but what I would like for him to do is to acknowledge the very obvious optimism that is springing up in America. I think people felt bogged down during the Biden years. They felt beaten down on inflation.
They felt like we were stuck in the mud, and they felt like the country was rudderless, that Joe Biden was weak. At best, he was weak, and at many times, he was just an absentee leader. Now they feel like we have strong leadership. They feel like we have someone who's focused on core problems like immigration and the economy, and so I would like to hear him acknowledge the optimism that I believe is springing up in the wake of his victory, in the wake of the Republican victory, and really focus on those things that led him to the White House again, and there's just a couple of issues. It's immigration, and it's the economy, and it's the concept that America is a force for good in the world, and that strong leadership will engender response from all over this country and all over the world. You see other countries already responding to Trump.
I think Americans like to feel like, you know, we are leading the world, and I don't think we've felt like that for the last four years, so all of these are sort of optimistic tones, and if he hits those, I think it'll be a great speech.
HILL: Actually, ABC's also reporting that one of the themes he's expected to focus on is unity. How do you think that would sound in a Donald Trump speech? What would that unity be, and what would make it meaningful to you?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, if I can just make one friendly amendment to the question you asked, Erica, earlier, is actually Monday is Martin Luther King's Day that Trump's inauguration just happens to be falling on, so, you know --
HILL: It is an important -- you are 100% right. It's an important and fair point. I was talking in terms of inauguration political things, but you are right. They happen to fall on the same day. No, my friend, you're right. I appreciate it.
ALLISON: Yes. Yes. And, you know, I love you and respect you, and I know what you meant when you asked that question, but it would be remiss of me not to point that out.
HILL: You are right. I appreciate it.
ALLISON: But I pointed out -- but I pointed out for this exact reason is that it is on Martin Luther King's Day someone who is an icon in our country who was known for wanting to bring this country together and move it forward with unity.
Now, I don't know what Donald Trump's going to say, and I'll be honest, actions speak louder than words. So you can give a speech in the Rotunda on Monday, and it can be all about unity, and then the next day be so divisive that that speech means nothing to me. But, you know, I think about out of many, there is one. You have to respect the many that make that one.
[22:10:03]
So you have to respect the people that maybe in the past you have discriminated against and realized that that was wrong and you won't do that again. You have to respect the fact that you lost the 2020 election. You have to respect the fact that if people don't agree with you, that doesn't mean retribution. That still, you can have unity. Disagreement is a part of our great democracy.
So, again, I'm not so much looking at what he says in the Rotunda. I'm looking at his actions on day one and the remaining four years. And if he models his actions after Martin Luther King, then maybe unity is part of the second term of Trump. But I will wait and see.
HILL: We will all be watching.
Doug, as we look at this, this is -- I mean, this is a pivotal moment in history, right? You have a president coming back for a second term with a break in between. You know, he likes to say he has a mandate. Yes, he won. Yes, he won the election. It was not as broad as initially thought. And to Ashley's point, there was a large part of the country. People voted for different reasons, right?
But in terms of unifying a country, there are a lot of people who want a sense of they are going to be part of what's next. How does that figure in, Doug?
BRINKLEY: Well, I think we're just going to try to echo Ronald Reagan and kind of use Make America Great Again, you know, a new day in America, take an optimistic tone like Theodore Roosevelt or FDR or John F. Kennedy would do.
On the other hand, and I do think he may, very good point about Martin Luther King Jr., he may try to shoehorn a line or something about that in the speech. But I wouldn't be focused on this inaugural speech as much as day one. When Trump ran, you know, January 6th has been lingering, 34 felony counts, you know, guilty, only present with felonies, and yet he transcended all of that and is going very high in public estimation right now. So I think there will be a bunch of events. There's going to be the one at the Rotunda. There's going to be the one at the arena. There's going to be at the balls. He's not just going to be dancing. He says he's going to say words there. So he may spread this out with five different things.
Meanwhile, just signing day one executive orders about undocumented workers that are going to create the resistance in the Democratic Party if they're draconian.
HILL: We will be watching for all of it. Good to have you all with us tonight. Thank you.
JENNINGS: Thank you.
HILL: Just ahead here, it has been a source of income for many. So what could the fallout look like for creators when TikTok goes dark in the U.S. in just under two hours? Well, we'll ask one of those creators just ahead, a creator who was part of the group that initially sued the government to stop the ban.
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HILL: Well, the clock is ticking, less than two hours now, until TikTok may stop talking and ticking in the U.S. The app's set to go dark one minute after midnight, due to, of course, because of that ban, which Congress approved, President Biden signed, and the Supreme Court then upheld. So if you were to open your TikTok app right now, this is what you'll
see, an urgent message warning that the ban will make your app temporarily unavailable. Meantime, creators from all over the world are posting their farewells.
BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Linda told me that TikTok might be banned soon. I might not be able to see all 11 million of you ever again. You are my friends and I don't want to lose you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I have a much bigger community here on TikTok than I do anywhere else. And I'm just like grieving and I just like hate goodbyes in the first place. So this has just been like a sucky day. I've just been on my phone kind of like enjoying the last few hours maybe that I have on this app.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so sad about TikTok leaving. I'm going to miss being your TikTok grandma. I had so much fun here and I love you all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Turns out, though, those goodbyes, well, they may not last that long. President-elect Donald Trump suggesting today he will likely delay the ban when he takes office on Monday.
CNN's Gloria Pazmino joining us now. So, Gloria, for TikTok users, what happens at 12:01?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, you know, I have to say I've been feeling a little bit left out in the last hour because I have opened my TikTok app several times, and I have not gotten that warning that we have been mentioning, but we know that many users, many of the 170 million users across America that use TikTok are seeing this warning on their screens now, and it says that we regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19th. That is, of course, starting at midnight going into Sunday. It says it's going to force them to make our services temporarily unavailable and that they're working to restore the service in the U.S. as soon as possible. We appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.
So what's going to happen at midnight? We've been wondering, well, is the app just going to disappear off of our phones? Is it going to shut down? Is it going to go dark?
TikTok has said it will go dark, but that doesn't mean literally dark. What it means is that if you have not already downloaded the app off of the App Store or the Google App Store, you will not be able to do it starting at midnight. So if you already have TikTok installed on your phone, you're still going to be able to access the app.
What's going to happen is that over time, the app will begin to degrade and glitch because the app platforms are not going to be able to put out the upgrades that are required in order to keep the app functioning well over time.
Now, whether or not we see this actual degradation of the app and the glitchiness of the app starting to take over remains an open question because incoming President Donald Trump has said that he is considering essentially extending the period from which the ban has to be put in effect. He spoke to NBC's Meet the Press earlier today and here's part of what he said.
"The 90-day extension is something that will most likely be done because it's appropriate. You know, it's appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It's a very big situation."
Now, it's important to highlight that it was Trump while he was in office that floated the TikTok ban in the first place given security concerns around national security. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which is a Chinese company, and there are serious concerns regarding the use of our information, our data, and the Chinese government having access to that.
[22:20:09]
So it was a bipartisan law that was passed in order to enforce that ban, and it looks like it will happen tonight at midnight. So if you have TikTok on your phone, you'll still be able to access it. You'll likely be able to use it, but you will not be able to get it if you haven't already downloaded it. And then we'll see what, if any, action the incoming president takes on Monday. We should note that not just the CEO of TikTok, but also many other tech CEOs are expected to attend his inauguration.
Erica?
HILL: Yeah. Absolutely. I can confirm, by the way, I did get the message when I opened mine a short time ago. So I don't know why they're doing this to you, Gloria, but keep trying. Thank you.
Well, one thing TikTok has actually made clear is that it's not for sale. So it seems like maybe it's nothing short of a miracle at this point to keep things going, perhaps even after that 90-day, if we get that 90-day pause.
CNN's Marc Stewart is following some of the developments for us from Beijing.
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MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: TikTok is moving forward with its plans to go dark any last-minute deal-making or diplomacy could be tricky. In the past, ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, has made it clear the platform is not for sale.
Even though this involves a private company, the Chinese government has taken a stance at one point accusing the U.S. of acting like a bully. But this is political. China wants to stand strong, being the one who calls the shots, not the U.S. Nonetheless, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has issued a video message thanking President-elect Trump. SHOU ZI CHEW, TIKTOK CEO: We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform, one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process.
STEWART: Chinese citizens are curious about this. This drama is a dominating topic on social media. Some of the posts support TikTok and its CEO for refusing to back down to the U.S.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Well, Reuters tonight is reporting Oracle is now telling some staff to begin shutting down servers that are used to host TikTok data in the U.S. Oracle is the primary cloud provider for TikTok here. CNN's Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter, joining me now.
So, Brian, at 12:01 p.m. -- 12:-01 a.m., I should say, Eastern, if I open this app, do you have a better sense of what happens? I mean, does it just go black? Do I just get content from overseas?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: I honestly don't think TikTok employees even know the answer to that question, Erica.
We are in uncharted territory, uncharted waters. This has never really happened before with a Chinese app being shut down by American lawmakers and with lots of companies stuck in the middle.
You mentioned Oracle. Oracle is stuck in the middle here. The Biden administration has signaled they're not going to enforce the law on Sunday. They're not going to make Oracle pay tremendous fines. But companies like Oracle that are the in-betweens, the go-betweens, they're the companies that make the Internet and the cloud work for all of us, they are not so sure they can trust the outgoing Biden administration. They want to err on the side of caution.
So they might start to shut down the servers. As Gloria just said, if you already have the app on your phone, in theory, it should still work in the morning. But we don't know for sure what's about to happen.
HILL: It is fascinating as we watch all of this play out just to see how things have changed, right? As Gloria also noted, Donald Trump years ago was talking about the dangers of TikTok, concerns about national security. That's what we heard from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. That's how we ended up here.
STELTER: Right.
HILL: And then to now see this reversal, where -- is there a sense of where that's really coming from? Is this about support? Is it about money?
STELTER: Success has a thousand fathers but no one wants the blame. And so right now you have all these angry TikTok users and none of these politicians want the blame. All the Republican lawmakers who wanted this ban to take effect, there are some who are still defending it, but many others are being mum.
And that's true for some of the Democrats as well. I would point to two factors, Erica. One, the aggressive lobbying campaign by TikTok. They are winning right now. They have the wind at their backs. They have the CEO coming to the inauguration.
Number two, Trump's change in stance has affected everything here. You know, Trump was the one leading the charge to get TikTok banned. But more recently, he wrote on his true social platform, why would I want to get rid of TikTok?
And he linked to all the statistics about how popular he is on the platform. I think that is the part we should emphasize here. Trump believes TikTok is good for him. It helps him. He likes the support from TikTok, so he doesn't want to see it go away. This feels like a very personal situation on one level. But on the other level, this is all about geopolitics.
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As Mark just indicated, this is about the U.S. versus China. And everything that happens in the next two or three days or beyond should be viewed through that prism.
HILL: Part of the issue, you're right, was so if this could be sold to an American company. But the reality is, TikTok saying, as Mark noted, it's not for sale. But even if they were to sell part of it, they would be selling it without the algorithm. That is the secret sauce of TikTok that a number of other social media apps have tried to figure out. They have failed. So if you're buying it without the secret sauce, what's the point?
STELTER: Maybe to help out the President-elect, right? Maybe to help out the incoming president. There's been a lot of speculation that the potential buyer that might be accepted by the Chinese is Elon Musk.
I spoke with Dan Ives, the "Wall Street" analyst today. He said, Musk is the one that would be accepted by the Chinese government. Musk already has a lot of business in China because of Tesla and other companies. It is possible that someone like Musk, just to let us imagine for a moment, that he wants to expand his ex-social platform. He wants to add video. He wants to add TikTok.
Maybe that's going to become a reality in the months to come. But there's another possibility. Maybe Donald Trump can't find any American buyers. Maybe he cannot convince the Chinese to accept an American buyer. Maybe 90 days from now, we will be back in the same situation we're in today where this wall is going to take effect again and there's nothing Trump can do about it.
Honestly, we're not just at a fork in the road. We're kind of in a situation where there's a four-way stop. This might go in any number of directions in the months to come. HILL: Yeah, certainly. I would not be shocked if we were back here, though, in 90 days, I have to say. There's also been, before I let you go, Brian, it's interesting in terms of what we're seeing from people on TikTok. A lot of the content creators are not happy with Mark Zuckerberg. They're kind of trying to blame him for part of this mess. Is there a role there that Mark Zuckerberg played or Meta?
STELTER: Zuckerberg is working hard to cozy up to Trump and there is speculation, not confirmed, but speculation that Zuckerberg is trying to take out one of his rivals, take out TikTok by cozying up to Trump. The reality is we don't know what was said at all these private meetings at Mar-a-Lago. All these tech CEOs went down to Mar-a-Lago and met with Trump. We don't know what happened in these meetings.
What we do know is that Trump is vowing to figure out some fix to this situation. So the pressure is on him. Trump will both benefit and be viewed as the savior if TikTok users have the app working on Monday or Tuesday, but the pressure is also on him to address the national security concerns. And whenever Trump holds a press conference, I think the questions about TikTok and whether it's a danger to Americans, that's going to be one of the first questions that Trump has asked.
HILL: Yeah, absolutely. Brian, appreciate it. Thank you.
STELTER: Thanks.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jim Sciutto, live in Tel Aviv. We're just hours away from the start of the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. A small dose of relief after 469 days of relentless war. Right after the break, I'm going to speak to the father of one of the hostages still held in Gaza.
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[22:31:59]
SCIUTTO: I'm Jim Sciutto, live in Tel Aviv. After 15 months of war, 469 days, and failed negotiations as well, Israel and Hamas are on the verge, in just hours, of a ceasefire. Just about three hours from now, that deal is due to go into effect and lead to an exchange of hostages, Israeli hostages, for Palestinian prisoners held here in Israel.
Earlier today, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the deal will not go forward until Hamas has provided a list of Israeli hostages to be freed. Tonight, far-right Israeli government ministers say they will resign over the deal, calling it, quote, "a surrender to Hamas."
Well, earlier as well today, hostage families met with Trump administration officials in Washington. One of them is Ruby Chen. He's the father of Itay Chen, one of seven Israeli-American hostages. Itay was just 19 years old, a soldier in the IDF when he was killed during the October 7 terror attack. Thanks so much, Ruby, for joining us.
RUBY CHEN, FATHER OF U.S.-ISRAELI HOSTAGE KILLED AND TAKEN INTO GAZA: Thank you. We switch places. You're in Tel Aviv and I'm in Washington, D.C.
SCIUTTO: Indeed. And you're there in Washington for, among other things, meeting with both Biden administration officials and Trump administration officials. I understand you were among a group of the families that met with the incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz. And I wonder what you heard from him and members of his team.
CHEN: Yeah, so maybe we'll go back somewhere to May last year. You know, we had the Biden coming out with his framework. And we thought that we were at a point that something would happen. And then there was the assassination of some of the Hamas leaders. And suddenly everything went dead and nothing materialized. And we were all waiting for something to happen.
And that something that happened, that inflection point, was when the elections came by and President Trump was elected. And suddenly you saw movement. And I think the fact that the President-elect went on social media and came out with a statement of hell to pay moved the players.
We saw President Trump's incoming team working in sync with the Biden administration officials. And they came up with this deal. And I think we need to thank specifically Mr. Steve Witkoff, for spending so much time in the Middle East to make sure that this happens. And have the guarantee of the incoming administration that the points negotiated by the Biden administration would indeed happen under the Trump administration as well.
SCIUTTO: OK. I know that one of your concerns and the concerns of other family members is that at some point perhaps this deal could fall apart. And I wonder what expressions of confidence, commitment did you hear from Trump's team?
[22:35:15]
CHEN: Yes. Mike Waltz, the incoming National Security Advisor and Mr. Adam Boehler in charge of the American hostages. Both gave their firm commitment that they will want to see this hostage deal continue until the last hostage is released.
Specifically seven U.S. hostages. That five of them will remain in captivity even after this first phase of the deal. And they said that they will do everything in their power to make sure that this deal indeed happens. So I wouldn't put too much into the words of the ministers of Netanyahu's government about what they're saying. But we all need to work to make this happen.
SCIUTTO: You and I have spoken a number of times over what have been painful months for you and your family. And you have criticized the Israeli Prime Minister for not prioritizing the return of the hostages sufficiently. Do you believe that he, the Israeli Prime Minister, will remain committed to this deal, particularly as he gets something of a rebellion from his right flank?
CHEN: Unfortunately, Jim, you know, we became specialists in international politics. What I understand, it's all about interests. And, you know, what can the Prime Minister achieve or gain from going forward with the deal? There are various things that he is looking for from the American administration. So there's a whole toolbox of things that the Prime Minister wants. So if that conversation happens and they're able to make it worthwhile for the Prime Minister, then I think that he will move forward, regardless of the criticism that he's getting from one of his cabinet members.
SCIUTTO: There were so many stops and starts over the course of these negotiations for the last several months. And in a rare event, I think we can describe it as that. In recent days, we've heard Biden administration officials and Trump administration officials say that this was a joint effort of the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration. And is that your view, that the two work together to help get this across the finish line?
CHEN: Definitely. I think it's unquestionable when you see the amount of work that both sides put in. But the question is, what was the thing that moved it past the tipping point?
And, you know, let's just think of a scenario that actually in the elections, we would have had a different president. Where would we be today? And I don't think that we would be at the same place today. And for that, I think we need to thank again, the Trump administration for picking this up and working so diligently with the Biden administration from day one. And also for the Biden administration to understanding that the incoming administration has leverage and has assets that they know the people in the Middle East. They are respected by the people in the Middle East. They're able to give guarantees to the people in the Middle East.
So it was just the perfect storm that they both worked together, allowing us to get to this point of, again, 470 days, Jim, 470 days that we have not been able to see our loved ones. It's way too much time.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. Well, listen, I know that this must be perhaps a spark of hope with events to unfold over the coming hours. But also it's been such a tough series of months for you and your family. We certainly wish you -- we wish you the best and hope that you get relief soon as well.
CHEN: Yeah, that's why we're here, Jim. We're going to be at the inauguration. We're going to be speaking with the officials once they are in office. And hopefully we will see additional levers put to make sure that indeed the first phase moves to a second phase. And it does not take 42 days for us to see the second phase of the deal happening.
SCIUTTO: Ruby Chen, thanks so much for joining. We look forward to speaking to you more tomorrow, U.S. time.
And we are just about three hours away from the first day of the first phase of a deal to end the fighting in Gaza or cease the fighting and get some of those Israeli hostages home. We'll have more, including breaking news after a short break.
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[22:43:42]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
HILL: We are following breaking developments here regarding TikTok. In just the last few moments, if you went to log on to your TikTok app, you luckily got the message that many of us just saw, essentially noting that it's offline now in the U.S. That's according to the pop- up. CNN's Gloria Pazmino following these developments for us.
So you open it, and then it's sort of like, hey, too bad. We got nothing?
PAZMINO: Yeah, and it's not only happening almost two hours ahead of the expected deadline, right? We were expecting to see a version of this at midnight tonight, but we're seeing it a lot earlier. This is what the warning you're getting now. It says, "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now."
And then what I think is a stunning sort of very public, loud and clear call-out to the incoming Trump administration, "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned."
Now, the call-out to the incoming administration has to be highlighted there, Erica, because we have heard from the CEO of TikTok that he believes that Trump will work with him to keep the app and the company alive, to keep it alive here in the United States.
[22:45:12]
Now, Trump has said that he is open to enacting a 90-day delay to the enactment of this law that would have banned TikTok, but he cannot do that until he takes office on Monday, January 20th, which is when the inauguration will be held. We have been sort of watching a TikTok hot potato over the last 48 hours after the Supreme Court decided to uphold the decision. The White House said, sorry, we cannot enforce this right now, given the timing. Essentially, it is up to the next administration, and Trump so far signaling that he is open and likely to do that 90-day delay.
HILL: We will look to see what happens there and whether that 90-day delay ends up doing anything more than simply buying folks 90 days. Gloria Pazmino, really appreciate the update. Thank you.
Joining me now to continue the conversation, Paul Tran. He and his wife make their livelihood selling their skincare products on TikTok. In fact, the couple was part of the original lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging that the TikTok ban violates their First Amendment rights. And full disclosure, TikTok did pay for your legal fees, as I understand it, Paul. Paul Tran is with me now. Great to have you. I mean, this is all --
this is not exactly what you and I thought we were going to be talking about, because we didn't expect anything to happen before midnight. Just your initial thoughts on the fact that we are now getting this error message, essentially saying you're out of luck.
PAUL TRAN, BUSINESS OWNER, SUING U.S. GOVERNMENT OVER TIKTOK BAN: Yeah, I mean, I spent the better part of yesterday being shell shocked after we lost our case with the Supreme Court. You know, I'm still trying to wrap my head about what kind of America we're living in. And then now, like you guys, I've logged into my TikTok account and can't get in. And it's really scary. And I think just to put it in people's perspective, like a lot of people who hear, you know, TikTok's getting banned. OK, you can't make videos. You can't make -- you know, the videos of your cats or, you know, like the silly videos. That's what TikTok is for us in Love & Pebble.
TikTok for us is imagine you have a brick-and-mortar store and you have all your customers coming, 90% of your customers. And then one day an earthquake happens and then your store is wiped out. That's what's happening to us right now, real time. 90% of our customers buy our brand, buy our product on TikTok.
And to have that wiped out by the U.S. government, not being able to hear small businesses and creators and people who have their livelihood on TikTok is just not right. And it's not fair. And that's why I fought it in the courts. And that's why I still to this day, it's catastrophic to our business and our family. And I think everyone needs to understand that.
HILL: As you know, what lawmakers who ultimately bipartisan support for this bill, which then the president signed, they raised concerns, serious national security concerns, they say they have about what the app exposes users to, about the potential level of access that it may give the Chinese government when it comes to information, perhaps the ability to spread misinformation. Donald Trump raised these concerns years ago. Now there's a sense that he might go back on that.
When it comes to the security part of this equation, are you concerned at all about your information that's out there on this app?
TRAN: In the Supreme Court, there's like literally no information that anyone could speak to. I wish if there was any kind of concern or anything nefarious happening, they would be fully transparent and tell me and tell the American people about it. But even in the Supreme Court, they made it that there was nothing.
HILL: Paul, real quick --
TRAN: And everyone throws around bipartisan all the time. You know what else was bipartisan? Both candidates using the platform for the presidency to get the presidency. I mean, they threw around that so much. But, you know, at this point and I'm sorry, but the American people are upset about this. And for good reason. It's because it's our voice. Americans are on this platform and it's our speech that we're fighting against. HILL: And for you, I know it's your livelihood real quickly because we're tight on time. Why is it that this is? I think there's also a lot of confusion about, hey, why not just move your business to Instagram or Facebook or another social media app? Why is TikTok the one that works best?
TRAN: It's -- we're on all of them. But it's the same thing as if you picture our store being in a storefront at a certain location for businesses. Some locations just work better than others. And we built this and it's taken a lot of time, a lot of money. And it's taken over two years for us to get to this point.
[22:50:13]
For us, for you to say, hey, just move over real quick and, you know, have it, you know, have the same success in a mere matter of days is frankly impossible. You know, we didn't build this up overnight. We spent years and years to build this and get our business to where it is right now. You have it taken away is -- is unacceptable.
HILL: Well, Paul, I hope you'll stay in touch with us, because obviously this is not the last word on what is happening here. And we want to stay in touch and also see what you're hearing, what the developments are for you. Paul, thanks for being with us tonight.
And we'll have much more on these developments. Going to fit in a quick break here, we'll see on the other side.
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HILL: We are back with the breaking news. TikTok now offline for U.S. users. If you were to log into the app, you'll see a note. The message telling you a law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. So, unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok now. But goes on to say, "We're fortunate that President Trump has indicated he'll work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned."
CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter back with us now. Brian, I was just speaking with a creator who makes his living on TikTok who said to me, it's interesting we talk all the time about the bipartisan support for this law banning TikTok when candidates showed a lot of bipartisan support in using TikTok for campaigning, essentially saying they all want to have their cake and eat it, too. This is actually going to be a real test for Donald Trump when he comes into office.
STELTER: Yes, I've seen some experts write columns about this in recent days saying, you know, we live in the post-privacy age now. These TikTok influencers, these businessmen and women who own these TikTok storefronts, they don't expect that their data is necessarily safe anymore. But they know they can build a business and build a life with it. And that's what's at risk now.
[22:55:17]
It's a very interesting time. And TikTok is really in the middle of these bigger, broader questions about who controls data. Who are the gatekeepers? Well, in this case, Erica, the gatekeepers are companies like Apple and Google and Oracle, the ones that go between TikTok and the users. And my reporting, I was on the phone here during the commercial break, a person close to TikTok says that multiple service providers, they indicated to TikTok they would no longer carry the app starting on Sunday morning. They would no longer manage the data starting on Sunday morning. That is why this pop-up message has appeared on the phones of TikTok users.
You know, these service providers like Oracle, they feared that the law might be enforced and they would face really steep financial penalties, even though the Biden administration had indicated that it would not enforce the law on Sunday. I think basically every TikTok user is caught in this weird middle ground between what the law says and what the Biden administration says they're going to do about it. And I did reach out to the White House just a few minutes ago. No new comment from the White House. They believe they were clear. They've basically punted the ball to Trump. And now it's in the President- elect's hands, Erica.
HILL: And so I guess we have to wait and see until Monday. Although I have a feeling if the past is any indication, Brian, and if we're all keeping an eye on our phones, we may hear something sooner rather than later. We may not have to wait until Monday.
STELTER: You're right, yeah.
HILL: Yes, Brian, appreciate it. Thank you.
STELTER: I think that's right. In the meantime --
HILL: Yeah.
STELTER: -- it's gone from the Apple App Store. That's a big, dramatic moment in American technology history.
HILL: Yeah, and the fact that this stopped just about an hour and a half, a little less than that, a little less than 90 minutes before everyone was expecting it.
Brian, appreciate it as always. This is going to keep you busy tonight, my friend.
Thanks to all of you for joining us as well. I'm Erica Hill. Enjoy the rest of your evening.
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