President Donald Trump's social media posts have been compared to sex work by a fuming critic who issued a dire warning.
Dylan Hedler-Gaudette, a federal ethics rule expert from Project on Government Oversight, raised the alarm about a new Truth Social initiative to offer sneak peeks of Trump's posts to Wall Street traders willing to pay, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
“The pimping of specific companies — obviously Wall Street would like to know that before other people,” said Hedler-Gaudette. “It’s a real mess.”
Truth API, set to launch Aug. 1, charges hedge funds and high-frequency trading firms up to $100,000 a month for milliseconds-faster access to Trump's Truth Social posts.
Trump owns about 41 percent of Trump Media, which means nearly half of every subscription fee flows directly to him, Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has warned.
On Saturday, the Post reported Trump has begun posting more frequently about publicly traded companies — and when he issues praise he ignites "buying frenzies."
Trump's recent approving post of Palantir Technologies and Intel both saw stock prices peak, the Post reported.
It's not uncommon for social media firms to sell faster speed — but other social media firms are not run by the president, the report notes.
"Truth Social doesn’t just distribute the news, it makes it, regularly rattling markets as Trump posts policy changes on everything from war to central bank leadership to tariffs," the Post reported.
Irene Aldridge, head of Able Alpha Trading, told the Post that's why her firm won't be buying early access to Truth Social.
“If this was the CEO a public company, this would be jail time,” said Aldridge. “We have a President of the United States who has the front seat to all the action, who makes all the decisions, and he’s disclosing this ahead of time to a select group.”
The Post was unable to identify which firms have signed up for the feed.
"Asked for comment, none of the half dozen most well known high-speed traders such as Citadel Securities and XTX Markets replied," the Post reported. "If just three sign up for the $100,000 a month fee, that would double revenue at Trump Media, which reported taking in $3.7 million last year."
Update: About 30 minutes after Trump published his vow on Truth Social, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance shared with her followers court records filed July 31 — the president's appeal to the Trump v IRS case.
"If the $1.776b slush fund and Trump tax immunity deal are really dead," Vance wrote, "then why bother to appeal, the judges decision in Trump v IRS that ruled they were dead?