Live updates: Trump signs TikTok executive order, putting company in hands of US investors

President Trump signed a handful of executive orders and presidential memorandums on Thursday afternoon, including one approving a deal to allow TikTok to continue operating in the U.S.

TikTok will be controlled by a group of American investors in a company valued about $14 billion, Vice President Vance said Thursday in the Oval Office.

He then signed a memo instituting the death penalty in the District of Columbia, as well as one against domestic terrorism and organized political violence. The latter follows an order earlier this week declaring antifa a domestic terrorist organization. 

As a government shutdown looms, Trump also upped the stakes on Capitol Hill. The White House budget office directed federal agencies to plan for mass layoffs, rather than traditional workforce furloughs, if Democrats don’t agree to a short-term stopgap funding measure. 

“This is all caused by the Democrats,” he said ahead of a midday huddle with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the White House. “They asked us to do something that’s totally unreasonable.”

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned top generals to Virginia for a mystery meeting next week, creating confusion and alarm across the Pentagon. The White House later on Thursday downplayed the meeting amid the speculation. 

Trump will meet with the Pakistani prime minister later on Thursday evening.