A media organization has sued President Donald Trump plans to charge six-figure fees for early notifications to his Truth Social posts, reports show.
The Intercept Media and the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Association have filed suit after Trump Media reported more than 10 Wall Street firms had agreed to pay up to $100,000 monthly for early access to the 80-year-old president's posts, MS NOW reported Wednesday
“The First Amendment guarantees equal access to the President’s public announcements, and even content-neutral burdens on that access must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest," states the complaint.
"There is no legitimate interest, let alone a significant one, in permitting President Trump to profit from selling government information."
The complaint also states, "the Fifth Amendment prohibits charging unreasonable sums that cannot be justified to offset the cost of the government benefit, and granting preferential access to crucial government information for arbitrary and irrational reasons, as is the case here."
MS NOW reached out to the White House and to Trump Media for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Trump often announces policy decisions on the platform – sometimes before his own administration learns of his decisions – and his posts often shift markets, argued Freedom of the Press chief of advocacy Seth Stern.
"A president selling priority access to news he himself generates for the benefit of a private company he controls is so blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional that it would have been hard to even fathom just a few years ago,” said Stern.
“Trump's crooked scheme is particularly outrageous because, as documented by our Trump Anti-Press Social Media Tracker, he frequently uses his Truth Social account to berate journalists and even to announce his plans to sue them and criminally investigate them."
"Then, he makes them wait in line behind paying customers to find out about it unless they’re willing to subsidize the platform he uses to attack them," Stern added. "This brazen grift targets not only the markets but the First Amendment. It cannot stand."
