Edward Markey: “The statute permits the president to extend the TikTok…”

“Well, it's because we need legislation. Because President Trump's move was illegal both the first time he extended the deadline in January and his second extension last Friday. Although The statute permits the president to extend the TikTok deadline by 90 days if certain conditions are met, [but] President Trump never triggered that provision in the statute. Instead, he twice issued executive orders that directed the Department of Justice to not enforce the law for 75 days. Nothing in the statute permits President Trump to simply not enforce federal law.” (30:09–30:21)

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.