President Donald Trump and two top aides are now reportedly facing a lawsuit after Truth Social began offering Wall Street firms and other investors premium early access to the president’s public statements through a paid data service.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suit names Trump, executive assistant Natalie Harp and deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, along with the Executive Office of the President and the White House Office.
Harp and Scavino “regularly publish” messages on Trump’s behalf through his Truth Social account, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are targeting “Truth API,” a new service launched earlier in August by Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social.
The licensed data feed provides banks and trading firms with access to statements from Trump and 10 other influential Truth Social accounts within milliseconds. Those accounts include Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., among others.
Subscriptions can reportedly cost as much as $100,000 per month.
The lawsuit alleges the arrangement is both corrupt and unconstitutional because Trump could financially benefit from giving paying customers slightly faster access to information that could potentially move financial markets.
“This scheme is profoundly corrupt,” the lawsuit states, alleging Trump stands to benefit financially by providing “market-moving” government information through his personal company.
The timing advantage could prove significant for some Wall Street firms and hedge funds engaged in high-frequency trading, where algorithms attempt to profit from even minor market fluctuations.
Trump’s Truth Social posts can include information capable of affecting markets, including announcements about U.S. peace talks with Iran or posts mentioning a company’s stock ticker.
The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, overseen by Trump’s children, reportedly owns approximately 114.75 million shares of TMTG, representing 41% of the company’s outstanding stock.
TMTG said in August that Truth API had attracted 10 subscribers.
Freedom of the Press Foundation Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern blasted the service, arguing that allowing a president to sell priority access to information he generates for the benefit of a private company he controls raises serious constitutional concerns.
The lawsuit specifically invokes the First and Fifth Amendments.
The plaintiffs argue the First Amendment guarantees equal access to presidential public announcements and that there is no legitimate government interest in allowing Trump to profit from selling government information.
They also argue that the Fifth Amendment prohibits charging unreasonable amounts for a government benefit and providing preferential access to important government information for arbitrary reasons.
The Intercept Chief Legal Officer David Bralow similarly condemned the arrangement.
“Nothing could be more antithetical to the free, independent press than the president charging for early access to his public announcements,” Bralow said.
The lawsuit seeks to challenge the constitutional basis of the premium Truth Social service as TMTG continues offering paying customers faster access to Trump’s public posts.
