Likely in the coming weeks, a federal judge will decide whether Donald Trump can become the first president to personally profit from selling early access to government information in his social media posts.
At a hearing Wednesday, Justice Department attorney Brantley Mayers argued there was no conflict with Trump charging up to $a-Governmental, Mayers, for direct API access to Truth Social posts that often break news from his administration.
Trump is the largest stakeholder and majority owner of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company that owns Truth Social, and the value of API access comes largely from Trump’s role as president.
News groups that sued argued that Trump’s exorbitant API fees violate the First Amendment and the Presidential Records Act by creating levels of access to government information on social media posts that Trump technically does not own. Additionally, Trump’s exorbitant API fees undermine the Fifth Amendment. That prohibits the government from “charging unreasonable sums that cannot be justified to offset the cost of the government benefit, and giving preferential access to crucial government information for arbitrary and irrational reasons,” the news groups argued.
However, Mayers compared Trump’s Truth Social posts — which announced military strikes, ceasefires, tariffs, immigration policies and major changes to his administration — to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s evening radio addresses known as “Fireside Chats,” Courthouse News reported. His personal feed acts as an unwanted public service, not a greedy profit, the DOJ argued.
It is clear, however, that Trump could potentially make $1.2 million per subscriber annually by selling government information that is not Trump’s property. Before Mayers could continue, U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken “cut him off,” Courthouse News reported.
“Well, President Roosevelt didn’t charge money for his fireside chats, did he?” Oetken asked.
In response, Mayers suggested that even if Roosevelt didn’t charge for his broadcasts, there were similar “barriers to entry” preventing all Americans from voting. Just as some news groups today cannot afford to pay $60,000 to $100,000 for the truth API, few Americans in the 30s and 40s could afford radio.