Warren, Schiff urge SEC to probe Trump Media's paid service giving faster access to Trump's posts

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Trump Media's plan to sell faster access to President Donald Trump's Truth Social posts.

The Democratic lawmakers asked SEC Chair Paul Atkins to complete a legal analysis of the "Truth API" service, including laws that "prohibit insider trading and market manipulation."

Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades on the Nasdaq as DJT, said the service offers "real-time access to posts from the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts."

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Trump Media & Technology Group is violating the law by selling faster access to President Donald Trump's Truth Social posts.

"This appears to be an outrageous abuse of the President's office for his personal benefit that undermines everyday investors and the integrity of our markets, while enriching Wall Street and other wealthy insiders," the Democratic senators wrote in a letter to SEC chair Paul Atkins dated Tuesday.

They asked Atkins to complete a legal analysis of Trump Media's new service, including laws that "prohibit insider trading and market manipulation," before it begins on Aug. 1.

A Trump Media spokesperson pushed back in a statement to CNBC, accusing Senate Democrats of mischaracterizing the service "either out of ideological opposition to free markets or a failure to grasp the distinction between public and nonpublic information — or, quite possibly, both."

The SEC declined to comment on the letter from Warren, the Senate Banking Committee's ranking member from Massachusetts, and California's Schiff, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Trump's family is the largest stakeholder in the publicly traded company, which goes by TMTG and trades on the Nasdaq as DJT, the president's initials.

Its share price, once viewed as a barometer for Trump's political standing, has fallen about 80% since the company began trading in late March 2024.

TMTG operates Truth Social, the social media platform where Trump's account is the most followed by far, and the company has branched into numerous other sectors, including cryptocurrency and fusion power.

Trump frequently posts policy announcements and other newsworthy information, including about the Iran war, that sends global markets hurtling up or down. He has also repeatedly used his account to promote individual stocks.

On July 16, TMTG announced Truth API, a so-called licensed data service providing "real-time access to posts from the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts."

The service "delivers a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform's most market-moving Truths," TMTG's interim CEO Kevin McGurn said in that announcement.

TMTG has discussed charging up to $100,000 a month for the service, Reuters reported.

Prior to retaking the White House, Trump transferred more than 114 million TMTG shares to a revocable trust overseen by his family, but still owns the stake indirectly.

The new service "threatens to undermine the integrity of capital markets," Warren and Schiff wrote Atkins.

Trump "stands to profit from the launch of this service," as do the "firms and wealthy individuals that pay the subscription fee" to get his posts faster, the senat...