Full Breakdown
Trump and White House Aide Face Lawsuit Over Paid “Truth API” Access
By Drooid · · How we work
The Lawsuit Claims Unequal Access to Government Information
American Oversight and the Campaign for Accountability filed a federal suit in September alleging that a $100,000-a-month “Truth API” subscription gives paying users real-time access to official posts before the public. The complaint says the scheme denies equal and timely access to government information and violates the First and Fifth Amendments, as well as federal law. Named defendants include President Donald Trump, White House aide Natalie Harp, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, FBI Director Kash Patel, and several White House offices.
Truth API Program and Financial Scale
The program launched on August 1 and delivers a direct feed from the accounts listed above. Subscribers may pay $100,000 per month or $60,000 per month with a three-year commitment. The company’s interim CEO, Kevin McGurn, told CNBC that the service has “mid-teens” of subscribers, generating more than $1 million in a single month—more revenue than TMTG earned from all sources in the first quarter of 2026. Trump transferred his shares to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which now holds about 41.4 % of TMTG, valued at over $1 billion.
Legal Allegations and Potential Criminal Exposure
A group of 53 former federal prosecutors and agents filed an amicus brief arguing that selling early access to market-moving information likely breaches the Securities Exchange Act, federal public-corruption statutes, illegal-gratuities prohibitions, and the Trade Secrets Act. They cite a hypothetical where a tariff announcement at 11 a.m. is known to a subscriber at 9 a.m., allowing the subscriber to trade before the public release at 10 a.m., which they say would constitute insider trading and could expose both officials and subscribers to criminal liability.
Official Statements & Responses
Kevin McGurn said markets already move on Truth Social posts and that the Truth API is expected to become a “meaningful, ongoing source of revenue.” The White House and the Justice Department were contacted for comment; no response was reported.
Upcoming Judicial Action
The plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction to block the early-access feed. A hearing on the injunction request is slated for early October at the federal courthouse in Manhattan.