53 Ex-Prosecutors Ask Court to Block Trump's $100,000 Truth Social Feed

Fifty-three former federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials asked a federal judge on Monday to block Donald Trump's $100,000-a-month service selling early access to Truth Social posts, arguing the arrangement could violate multiple federal criminal statutes.

The group filed an amicus brief in the Southern District of New York in support of a preliminary injunction sought by The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The signatories worked on public corruption and public integrity matters at the Justice Department, the FBI and U.S. attorneys' offices across 11 presidential administrations, Republican and Democratic alike. Collectively, they count more than 880 years of government service.

Their core concern: paying subscribers could get a paid window into potentially market-moving government information before the public sees it.

"It's so corrosive to democracy and to the public interest when we see the president financially benefitting from his official role," Renata O'Donnell, senior legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, which worked with Singleton Schreiber on the filing, told Fortune. "We're in an environment where we all want to be looking to the founders, right? They came over because they were in a situation where they saw that a government all in the hands of one person was not a success—and they tried to insulate the president constitutionally and through a variety of other protections to make sure he could be independent."

The filing itself is blunt about the stakes.

"There is no legitimate, let alone significant, government interest in allowing public officials to profit personally by selling early access to official government announcements," the brief reads. "But Truth Social's new scheme to charge up to $100,000 per month for users to get early access to messages from the President and other officials on the platform seeks to do precisely that."

The product at the center

Truth API is a data licensing product from Trump Media & Technology Group, Truth Social's parent company. The company pitched the service to financial institutions and trading firms as a way to receive posts from prominent Truth Social accounts before they are broadly available. Reports estimate nearly a dozen firms have already signed up at $100,000 per month.

One academic assessment leaves little ambiguity. "I'll be blunt," Gian Luca Clementi, an economics professor at NYU Stern School of Business, previously told Fortune. "This is insider trading by definition."

Trump Media and Technology Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fortune.

Not a lawsuit—yet

The former officials have not sued and are not asserting that a crime has already been proven. Instead, the brief argues the service may be criminal and should be stopped before further harm occurs. It states the Truth API subscription may violate criminal laws and the Securities Exchange Act, under which violators may be liable for "unlawful insider tips."

O'Donnell also flagged exposure for the customers themselves, noting there can be "implications for the people who are paying for the premium subscription."

"There is potential criminal liability for folks who have paid the $100,000," she said. "And so that would extend to folks who have already paid the $100,000, and for future folks who might. And so, to shunt some of that future harm, it is in the public interest to shut this down sooner rather than later, as before more folks sign on."

The filing identifies further possible violations: the Securities Exchange Act, the Trade Secrets Act, illegal gratuity, conflict of interest, and illicit compensation for federal employment.

"Because there are myriad ways that the Truth Social scheme could pose criminal liability for both the President and for subscribers, there is no legitimate or significant government interest that justifies the scheme," the brief reads. "Public officers are trusted with serving the public and operating outside of corrosive special interests. But the Truth Social scheme flips this anti-corruption principle on its head."

The brief also distinguishes the arrangement from an ordinary government communications channel. Trump is a major beneficiary of TMTG, and the filing says he benefits financially when the value of Truth Social goes up.

San Francisco has separately sued TMTG in state court, accusing the company of violating California's unfair competition law and federal insider trading rules. The city is seeking to halt the service and impose penalties.

One venture among many

Trump Media operates Truth Social alongside Truth+, its streaming service, and Truth.Fi, a financial services brand. Its SEC filings say Truth.Fi includes investment products and a digital-asset strategy, including a bitcoin treasury. TMTG has also launched a group of exchange-traded funds tied to themes such as American defense and energy security.

The family's crypto holdings dwarf those operations. World Liberty Financial, co-founded by Trump and his sons, anchors a substantial cryptocurrency business. Trump's 2025 financial disclosure showed more than $1.4 billion in income from crypto-related ventures, including almost $800 million associated with World Liberty Financial and $635 million from Trump memecoin sales.

The court's ruling on the preliminary injunction will determine whether roughly a dozen paying subscribers keep their head start on presidential posts—and whether a sitting president can monetize the timing of his own announcements.