TikTok’s Chinese owners are facing the prospect of the video app being banned in the United States unless they sell its American operation.
A vote by the US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly supported a measure to force ByteDance into divestment within six months on national security grounds.
The Bill still needs to pass the Senate to become law.
President Biden’s White House has stated that it would support the legislation.
However, the ratification process would likely be held up by lengthy legal challenges.
Supporters argue that the Bill is about protecting Americans and not banning TikTok.
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The Bill contends that the Chinese firm is effectively under the control of the government in Beijing – a regime that could demand access to data on its 170 million US users at any time.
It is also unclear whether China would permit any sale of TikTok’s US assets.
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers said: “We have given TikTok a clear choice: separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP (the Chinese Communist Party), and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences. The choice is TikTok’s.”
The Senate is widely expected to give the Bill greater scrutiny.
It was passed through the House under a hastened process.
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Donald Trump, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Bill Clinton are among high-profile figures pictured in a new selection of photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, released by Democrats in Congress.
This article contains images of a sexual nature that some people may find offensive.
Sky News has identified all of the people whose faces have not been redacted in the images. They have been contacted for comment.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of those pictured and the context surrounding the 19 photos is not known.
In one image, the US president is seen with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Belgian model Ingrid Seynhaeve.
Image: Donald Trump, Belgian model Ingrid Seynhaeve and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: @OversightDems
Two further photos show Mr Trump with women whose faces are redacted.
One image is black and white and shows him with six women; three on either side of him. The other is out of focus, and shows him sitting alongside an unidentified woman.
Image: Mr Trump alongside six unidentified women Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Mr Trump with an unidentified woman. Pic: @OversightDems
Speaking after Epstein took his own life in jail in 2019, Mr Trump admitted knowing Epstein, but added: “I had a falling out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”
In July, the White House also released a statement saying Epstein had been banned from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for acting like a “creep”.
Image: Bill Clinton with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as Jimmy Buffett and Mr Buffett’s wife Jane Slagsvol. Pic: @OversightDems
In another photo released by Democrats, Bill Clinton is seen with Epstein and convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as singer Jimmy Buffett and Mr Buffett’s wife Jane Slagsvol.
In 2019, a spokesperson for the former US president said he had “not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade” and “knows nothing about the terrible crimes”.
Further images show Epstein with long-time Trump ally, Steve Bannon. In one he sits across from him at his desk, while in another the men are seen side-by-side taking a selfie in a mirror.
Image: Jeffrey Epstein with long-time Trump ally Steve Bannon. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: @OversightDems
Hollywood filmmaker Woody Allen appears in four of the photos; two of them taken with Epstein.
Image: Woody Allen with Jeffrey Epstein and an unidentified woman. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Woody Allen and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: @OversightDems
In another, Allen is photographed with Bannon, while one more shows him sat with Bill Clinton’s former treasury secretary, Larry Summers, and his wife Elisa New, seemingly on a private plane.
Image: Woody Allen and Steve Bannon. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Bill Clinton’s former treasury secretary, Larry Summers, and his wife Elisa New. Pic: @OversightDems
Speaking to The Times in September, Allen said he had been to dinner at Epstein’s home, but suggested he was unaware of the nature of his crimes.
Allen said: “He told us he’d been in jail and that he had been – I can’t remember the word – but that he’d been falsely put in jail in some way.”
Meanwhile, Summers told the Harvard Crimson that his former association with Epstein was “a major error of judgement”.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, then Prince Andrew, is seen just once, alongside tech billionaire Bill Gates. Epstein is not pictured. The original photo at a malaria summit also shows the then Prince Charles but he is cropped out of the version released by the Democrats. It is not clear why the picture has been included in the Epstein files.
Image: Bill Gates with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, then a prince. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Bill Gates talks to the then Prince Andrew and then Prince Charles during a malaria summit in London on April 18, 2018. Pic: Reuters
Andrew relinquished his titles in October amid continued controversy over his friendship with Epstein, but said at the time: “I vigorously deny the accusations against me”.
Gates himself appears twice more, once alongside Epstein’s long-time pilot, Larry Visoski, and once in a framed photo which appears in an image above a black cabinet.
Image: Bill Gates and Epstein’s longtime pilot, Larry Visoski. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: A photo released in the Epstein files shows Bills Gates’s picture framed above a cabinet. Pic: @OversightDems
In 2021, the billionaire told the New York Times he had met Epstein to discuss philanthropy and Gates’s spokeswoman said he regretted ever meeting him.
A year later, Gates told the BBC: “I made a mistake ever meeting with Jeffrey Epstein.
“Any meeting I had with him could be viewed as almost condoning his evil behaviour. So, that was a mistake.”
Another photo shows British entrepreneur Richard Branson with Epstein and Dean Kamen, an American engineer, inventor, and businessman.
Image: Richard Branson with Epstein and Dean Kamen. Pic: @OversightDems
Epstein is seen with his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, in one more image.
Image: Epstein with his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz. Pic: @OversightDems
Dershowitz said he fell out with Epstein after making a plea deal for him in 2007, leading to his conviction.
He told the Harvard Crimson in November: “Jeffrey Epstein despised me after I had made the deal. Epstein and I did not get along personally after I represented him and helped get the deal.”
A number of images of a sexual nature also appear in the cache.
One shows a bowl of novelty condoms with a caricature of Trump’s face, each one bearing the phrase “I’m HUUUUGE!” A handwritten sign reads: “Trump condom $4.50.”
Image: Pic: @OversightDems
Various sex toys are also featured in pictures, including a glove with ribbed fingers, and a safety notice from a “jawbreaker” gag warning of the risk of injury or death.
Image: Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Pic: @OversightDems
The images were released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, which obtained them from the Epstein estate.
Democrats said the files included tens of thousands of photos and said more would be released in the coming days.
They were described as “images of the wealthy and powerful men who spent time with Jeffrey Epstein” and “photographs of women and Epstein properties”.
A spokesperson for the Republican-led House Oversight Committee accused the Democrats of “cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions” to create a “false narrative” about Donald Trump.
“Democrats’ hoax against President Trump has been completely debunked,” they added.
The man accused of killing right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk has appeared in person at court for the first time.
Tyler Robinson, 22, from Utah, is charged with aggravated murder in relation to the shooting of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem.
Image: Charlie Kirk pictured in December 2024. Pic: Reuters
Video of the incident showed Kirk, 31, and a staunch ally of Donald Trump, reaching up with his right hand after a gunshot was heard as blood came out from the left side of his neck. He died shortly after.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.
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How the Charlie Kirk shooting unfolded
On Wednesday’s appearance at Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, Robinson arrived in court with restraints on his wrists and ankles and wearing a dress shirt, tie and slacks.
According to the Associated Press, he smiled at family members sitting in the front row of the courtroom, where his mother teared up and wiped her eyes with a tissue.
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He made previous court appearances via video or audio feed from jail.
Image: Pic: AP
The shooting happened during Kirk’s “prove me wrong” series, which saw the father of two visit campuses and debate contentious subjects; in this case, he was discussing mass shootings.
Prosecutors say the bullet which struck Kirk’s neck “passed closely to several other individuals”, including the person questioning him as part of the event.
Image: President Trump comforts Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika at his memorial service in Arizona in September. Pic: Reuters
A charging document about Robinson from September includes incriminating texts sent between the alleged shooter and his roommate after Kirk’s death.
Judge Tony Graf also heard arguments on Wednesday about whether cameras and media should be allowed in the courtroom, with Robinson’s lawyers and the Utah County Sheriff’s Office asking for them to be banned.
Mr Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has called for full transparency and said “we deserve to have cameras in there”.
The judge has already made allowances to protect Robinson’s presumption of innocence before a trial, agreeing that the case has drawn “extraordinary” public attention