NEW YORK (AP) — America’s first billionaire president may soon benefit from a new line of business tied to his office: charging access for a first-look at certain posts on his Truth Social platform.
Donald Trump’s struggling media company plans to sell Wall Street traders the chance to see posts from “high-profile” accounts – possibly including his own – milliseconds before others.
That could mean big money for her and Trump.
Trump’s posts are often important enough to send financial markets into turmoil, sending prices soaring and falling in a matter of seconds. Until that point, presidential political announcements were considered a form of public property, free and accessible to everyone at the same time.
The president has the most followers on Truth Social – 12.9 million – and is therefore likely to be included in the mix of high-profile accounts.
Truth Social’s public parent company, Trump Media & Technology, did not respond to emailed questions, including whether Trump’s posts would be excluded from the offer, but the planned service is attracting a lot of attention – and not just from retailers.
“Selling access to the highest bidders on Wall Street is abhorrent,” said Dylan Hedler-Gaudette, an expert on federal ethics rules at the watchdog Project on Government Oversight. “Everything he says has an impact on the market.”
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How the new company plans to make money
The service, called Truth PSI, announced in a brief news release Thursday, would allow Wall Street trading firms and institutions to see certain posts earlier than other users, allowing them to profit from subsequent moves in stocks, bonds and interest rates.
Trump Media’s press release gave no idea of the size of the new deal, but quoted CEO Kevin McGurn as saying he expects it to become a “significant” source of revenue as part of a strategy to “monetize proprietary assets.” The company added that it expects to launch the service next month.
The customers Truth Social targets are high-frequency traders who are a step ahead of others when it comes to reacting to news and buying and selling bonds and other financial instruments. And often a few thousandths of a second make the difference between winning and losing.
Trump posts are big news and make a lot of money
When Trump announced his sweeping tariffs on April 2 last year, it was major political and financial news—and many first heard about it on Truth Social.
“It’s Liberation Day in America,” Trump posted hours before the formal Rose Garden announcement, sending stocks down nearly 5% over the next few hours. Safe-haven assets such as gold and government bonds rose rapidly.
A few days later, Trump reversed course by suspending tariffs for 90 days, with another announcement on Truth Social in which he wrote: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
Stocks rose 9.5% on the day, adding $4 trillion to investors’ wealth, as measured by the S&P 500 index.
“This is even more brazen corruption,” said Kathleen Clark of Washington University School of Law and an expert on government ethics rules. “Trump can line his pockets by selling access.”
His contributions to the Iran War are also required reading for oil traders
Trump has announced major decisions and considerations on other issues, including personnel changes, immigration crackdowns and issues of war and peace in Ukraine and Iran.
“THE GUN FIRE IS NOW IN EFFORT. PLEASE DON’T HURT HIM!” he wrote on June 24 last year about a short-lived deal with Iran that immediately sent oil prices plummeting.
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No other social media platform has such access to the president, and banks and retailers will likely have to pay for it.
Trump Media did not say in its press release how much it plans to charge, but said it has already signed up customers.
The law does not prohibit Trump from doing this
The service is similar to others at competing social media companies, but has one key difference: It’s about the president’s posting. But there doesn’t seem to be anything that can stop Trump, at least legally.
Conflict of interest laws would prohibit U.S. government officials from owning a company that profits from their office by selling access to their decisions about public office, says Washington University’s Clark. However, it notes that the President and Vice President are exempt from the provision.
Still, every president since the law was passed decades ago has acted as if it applied—selling individual stocks, divesting company holdings, or placing their financial assets in a blind trust so they wouldn’t know what was being bought and sold in their name while they wielded power. but Trump refused.
No response from the White House or its companies
The White House referred questions to the company that owns Truth Social, including whether the president is profiting from his office. Multiple messages sent to Trump Media & Technology were not returned. And Trump’s own family business, the Trump Organization, declined to comment.
Trump himself has repeatedly denied that there is any conflict between his obligation to act in the public interest and the ability to make money from the presidency.
The White House had previously said that Trump only does what is good for the country and does not get involved in his family affairs.
Trump Media needs the help
The new service is the latest in a series of attempts to revive the fortunes of Trump Media, whose shares have plunged more than 70% since the president took office last year
The company was Diversification into different business areas – crypto, financial services and nuclear fusion – but all to no avail.
The company recently replaced its longtime CEO, former congressman Devin Nunes, with McGurn — but the stock continued to sink regardless.
The stock rose 0.6% on Thursday and rose by half to $9.66 the next day. Before Trump took office last year, it closed at $40.
https://apnews.com/article/truth-social-trump-conflicts-of-interest-8020da39fe2d3810138b39f056d286e0
