Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
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President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay implementation of the law banning TikTok. Western officials say North Korean soldiers are dying in high numbers along the Ukrainian front. The FDA says Zepbound is no longer in shortage, raising its cost.
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Good morning, everyone. Scott Simon here and we hope you've had a great holiday week. Before we begin up first today, a special thank you to our NPR Plus subscribers. Now, if you haven't heard of NPR Plus, it's a new way to support NPR through with Simple. We're occurring donation that unlocks sponsor-free listening to every episode of Up First Plus. Special perks for more than 25 NPR podcasts. Now, don't worry. First, we'll continue to be freely available to all. Because NPR is public media. That's the core of what we are, but we also look to you, the public, to help fund this service. We need a lot of people and equipment to get this podcast out to each morning, and, of course, that costs money. So please do your part for public media and sign up for NPR Plus at plus dot NPR dot org today. That's plus dot NPR dot org. Thank you. And now I'm with the show. [MUSIC] President-elect Donald Trump wants a chance to weigh in on the TikTok saga once he assumes office. He's asked the Supreme Court to delay implementation of the law banning the app until after his inauguration. I'm Scott Simon. I'm Daniel Estrin, and this is Up First from NPR News. The law forces TikTok to be shut down or sold next month. We'll have more on that story, also North Korean soldiers fighting with Russia. Against Ukraine, US officials say they're dying in high numbers. These North Korean soldiers appear to be highly indoctrinated, pushing attacks even when it is clear that those attacks are futile. And mixed feelings after the FDA declares the end of an obesity drug shortage. Stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend. [MUSIC] A law forcing TikTok sale or closure is set to go into effect January 19th, just one day before President-elect Trump's inauguration. But Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay its implementation so he can resolve the issue. And Piers Bobby Allen joins us. Bobby, thanks for being with us. Thanks, Scott. What is Donald Trump asking the Supreme Court to do? Yeah, as you mentioned, Trump is urging the court to pause the start date of a law that would shut down TikTok nationwide unless it is sold away from its China-based parent company. And in the filing, Trump says he possesses the consummate deal-making expertise to broker a sale of the app. How might this affect the Supreme Court's review of TikTok? You know, that's really hard to say. In two weeks, lawyers for TikTok and the Department of Justice will be arguing in front of the Supreme Court over whether banning TikTok violates the Constitution or not. The date had been said earlier this month. Now, Trump's new brief does not take a position on the constitutionality of the TikTok ban, but does essentially say, "Well, Supreme Court, if you want to hold off on making a ruling, Trump will step in, strike a deal that might make the high courts intervention unnecessary completely." And I talked to legal scholars about this request, and they said Trump seems to be acting as if he is president before he is even sworn in. Experts also noted to me that Trump is citing no legal authority for this request. I mean, this case has been gathering steam for a number of years. How did it come to this? Yeah, it really has. You know, since TikTok became a global sensation during the pandemic, Washington has been very worried about the company's ties to China, and those fears really escalated in April when Congress passed a law banning TikTok unless it sheds its Beijing parent company ByteDance, and TikTok has been fighting this law. It lost in a lower court and appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case on this lightning-fast schedule. But looming over the legal saga has been president-elect Donald Trump. Remember, he started the TikTok ban movement during his first term, and now he is the very one promising to save the app. And any indication of why he changed his mind. Yeah, you know, Trump had an active TikTok account during his presidential campaign, and he has credited the app with helping drive young people to the polls. So that's what he's saying publicly about why he now supports the app. But TikTok observers have also pointed to influential donors who are in touch with Trump's orbit and who are big investors in ByteDance. They include Jeff Yoss, whose investment firm Susquehanna Investment Group has a large stake in ByteDance. Yoss has never donated directly to the Trump campaign, but he was a major donor to conservative super PACs' past election.
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