News Wrap: Trump gives TikTok another 75 days to find American buyer to keep app running

Geoff Bennett:

In the day's other headlines: President Trump says he's giving TikTok another 75 days to find an American buyer, signing an executive order to keep the popular app up and running until then.

It's the second deadline extension Mr. Trump has given Chinese firm ByteDance to sell its us TikTok operation, despite a 2024 law that was supposed to ban the app if ByteDance didn't divest.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it will become clear within weeks whether Russia truly intends to pursue peace with Ukraine. Rubio spent a second day with his NATO counterparts in Brussels, where other foreign ministers from Europe also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in the ongoing cease-fire talks.

Rubio told reporters the U.S. won't allow that.

Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State: The Russians know our position in terms of wanting to end the war, and we will know from their answers very soon whether they are serious about proceeding with real peace or whether this is a delay tactic. If it's a delay tactic, the president's not interested in that.

If this is dragging things out, Donald Trump's not going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations about negotiations.

Geoff Bennett:

While talks delay, Russia hasn't slowed its assault on Ukrainian cities. Smoke rose over President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown today after a Russian ballistic missile killed at least 14 people. Ukrainian officials say six children were among the dead. Following the strike, Zelenskyy renewed pleas to allies to increase pressure on Moscow.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to return a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador for alleged gang ties. Immigration officials acknowledged their error in sending Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a Salvadoran maximum security prison. There's a 2019 court order that protected him from being deported there because he faced possible persecution by local gangs.

Still, the White House alleges Garcia is an MS-13 gang member and shouldn't be returned. His attorneys say there is no evidence of gang ties.

South Korea's high court has removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office four months after he declared martial law and threw that nation into turmoil. Their decision was unanimous to uphold his impeachment, thus ending his presidency. It ignited divided reactions across the country.

(Cheering)

Geoff Bennett:

Thousands of Yoon's opponents cheered, some danced, after watching the court render its decision. Others of his supporters wept at the news. On top of Yoon's dismissal, he still faces criminal charges for inciting rebellion, which carries the death penalty or life in prison if he's convicted. South Koreans will head to the polls within the next two months to choose a new president.

An Israeli airstrike in Lebanon overnight killed at least three people, including, Israel says, a Hamas commander. Lebanon's prime minister said the attack was a clear violation of the November cease-fire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. That cease-fire increasingly appears to be slipping after Israel also fired upon the Lebanese capital, Beirut, twice in just the last week.

Meantime, Israel released video today that it says shows new operations in Northern Gaza to expand its security perimeter. It comes days after the Israeli government said it would seize large areas of land to pressure Hamas, which has seen increasing protests against its rule.

Here at home, deadly storms and flash floods continue to pummel parts of the Midwest and South today. At least eight people have died, most from a wave of storms and tornadoes that flattened whole communities and tore buildings to shreds. One of those killed was in Kentucky, a boy who was on his way to a school bus stop, while, in neighboring Tennessee, Nashville streets resembled rivers as the waterline crept higher toward people's homes.

And forecasters say the severe weather is not over. This weekend, thunderstorms are poised to bring more flooding to more states, especially Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Former President Barack Obama criticized the Trump administration for what he described as its pressure tactics against its perceived opponents. In remarks at Hamilton College in Upstate New York, Mr. Obama addressed what he described as the Trump administration's infringement of rights from executive orders targeting major law firms to the White House cracking down on prominent universities.

He put the onus back on those institutions to act.

Barack Obama, Former President of the United States: It is up to all of us to fix this.

(Applause)

Barack Obama:

It's not going to be because somebody comes and saves you. And now we're at one of those moments where, you know what, it's not enough just to say you're for something. You may actually have to do something and possibly sacrifice a little bit.

Geoff Bennett:

Mr. Obama's remarks make him the first former president to publicly rebuke Trump's second term.

And former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has died. Once one of the most public figures of the Catholic Church, the infamous and disgraced ex-Cardinal was defrocked in 2019 by Pope Francis after a Vatican investigation found he'd sexually molested both adults and children.

That same nearly-500-page report said that Pope John Paul II knew about the allegations against McCarrick, even as he appointed him archbishop of Washington in 2000. The current archbishop of Washington acknowledged today in a statement that there will be enduring pain for the victims of McCarrick's sexual abuse. Theodore McCarrick was 94 years old.