President Donald Trump has cooked up a scheme to sell access to his Truth Social posts before the general public can see them, a move that raised red flags for one ethics expert.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing statements from Trump's media company, that it "wants traders and investors to pay for instant access to his Truth Social posts, the latest example of the first family mixing its business interests and White House affairs." The move would allow institutional investment firms and "high-frequency algorithmic trading firms" to connect to the Truth Social API starting next month, providing them with near-real-time information from the president.
Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer, raised red flags about the report on social media.
"If these Truth Social posts contain market-moving federal government information, selling access to them to institutional investors before the public violates federal insider trading laws," Painter wrote on X.
The report was published at a time when questions about the Trump family profiting from the presidency have been raised by Democrats and Republicans alike. Trump recently disclosed that he made more than $2 billion since entering office last year, and his sons have embedded themselves in defense and mining companies that have received sizable loans from the U.S. government.