The Political Parley: Trump indicted, TikTok bans and the defamation trial

Another big wrap-up to a wild week of politics

COURTESY OF ELLIOTT STALLION

Judge ruled Friday that the defamation case between Dominion and Fox News Network will go to trial in April

ANNE MURPHY, Evergreen columnist

Congress can’t decide if or how they want to ban TikTok

Congress has returned to acting like children, arguing over the details of the various bills that have been proposed that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. 

Both Democrats and Republicans made a joint effort to express their disapproval of TikTok at the Capitol Hill hearing on March 23, according to AP News

Several bills and different types of legislation are now attempting to ban TikTok, but Congress can’t seem to decide if they agree with any of the legislation, which at this point is just a return to the status quo. 

All over TikTok, you can see videos of people complaining about congress taking away their platform and a source of income. During the trial Congress had actually seemed to understand that TikTok was bad, though they don’t seem to understand how it works. For example, asking about how wifi works which is completely unrelated to the issue they were pushing. 

Congress can not seem to agree on why they do not approve of the various bills to ban TikTok, with some arguing that the bills are too restrictive and others arguing that they are not restrictive enough, according to AP News

It was shocking Congress agreed at all at the TikTok hearing, but it should come as no surprise that they’ve gone back to fighting in circles over the details of the different bills.

One of the bills that has gotten the most attention is the RESTRICT Act which would give the White House new powers to be able to restrict and ban a variety of communications and technology products that are made in China, according to NBC News.

Senator Mark Warner, a chief sponsor of the RESTRICT Act, had to attempt to defend the bill from accusations that the bill would undermine free speech and further expand government surveillance according to NBC News.

It seems like it will be a while before any legislation that could potentially ban TikTok actually gets anywhere close to being passed – Which  is great because it gives people more time to find ways around the ban if it does happen.

Of course the Dominion defamation case will go to trial

This is not surprising at all, Fox News is so loose with their “facts” that it was only a matter of time before they got sued for defamation. 

The fact that Fox News was broadcasting the claims that the Dominion voting machines rigged the election and did not expect to be sued is more shocking than the fact that the lawsuit is going to trial.

A judge ruled Friday that the defamation case between Dominion and Fox News Network will go to trial in April. According to AP News Dominion is suing Fox for $1.6 billion for saying, during the 2020 election, that Dominion voting machines helped to rig the election in favor of President Biden. 

Dominion claims they lost millions of dollars in business because these claims spread across the country according to AP News.

Fox News hosts including Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity are expected to testify in the trial. Fox claimed that they only repeated former President Trump’s allegations, and did not spread the allegations themselves, according to Politico, which is just about the thinnest argument possible.

AP News said, “Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that it was CRYSTAL clear that none of the allegations made by Trump allies on Fox in the weeks after the election were true.”

Former President Trump finally got indicted

After a week of waiting on pins and needles former President Trump finally got indicted on criminal charges. Which, though it is bad for the United States appearence, is pretty great to hear, he is now the first former president in U.S. history to be indicted in a criminal case.

The former president surrendered and turn himself in to local law enforcement on tuesday according to CBS News. He will be fingerprinted and arraigned however, much to the dismay of the public, the Mugshots of the former president will not be taken.

The charges against the former president are 34 felony counts of falifying records in the first degree.

The grand jury that the investigation and indictment is tied to was investigating the former president in relation to a hush money payment sent from former President Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels, with whom the former President is accused of having had an affair. The former president is also being accused of falsifying business records in order to hide the payment to Daniels according to AP News

There are currently three other criminal probes that the former president is being investigated for. If we’re lucky this may be the first of many indictments of the former president.