Senator Mark Warner wrote to major financial trade groups urging them to disavow the arrangement, while banks showed little interest
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Senator Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged the heads of major financial industry trade groups on Tuesday to publicly reject Trump Media & Technology Group's paid data feed offering early access to President Donald Trump's Truth Social posts, according to Reuters.
Warner sent letters to the heads of six financial trade groups — including the Bank Policy Institute, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and the American Bankers Association — arguing that the deal would let Trump reap personal financial gains from the release of government policy information. "I urge you to make clear that the financial services industry will not legitimize an arrangement that sells privileged access to market-moving presidential communications, especially for the president's personal financial benefit," Warner wrote, according to Reuters. Warner is also a member of the Senate Banking Committee.
Major banks appear unmoved by the product in any case. One source at a large bank said the institution had no plans to purchase the feed, adding that doing so would carry political risk distinct from ordinary market-data subscriptions, because it would amount to paying for early access to a sitting government official's policy statements. A second source, at a different large bank, said its institution had likewise shown no interest in signing up for the service.
Spokespeople for the six trade groups named in Warner's letter did not respond to requests for comment. The White House referred a request for comment to Trump Media, which did not respond.
Trump Media announced the product, called Truth API, on July 16. The service is scheduled to launch Aug. 1 and is designed to deliver posts from Truth Social's 10 most influential accounts to subscribers within milliseconds. Trump Media said it had already signed up customers ahead of the launch, though it did not identify them.
When Trump Media launched the feed, it drew conflict-of-interest concerns from ethics experts and Democrats. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said it would benefit the Trump family and "make Wall Street traders rich," according to CNBC. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, called it "an egregious scheme to profit off the presidency."
Trump Media has floated a monthly price of up to $100,000 for access to the feed, with a reduced rate of $60,000 per month available to firms willing to commit to a three-year agreement. Regulatory filings show the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust owns approximately 114.75 million TMTG shares, a stake amounting to roughly 41% of the company, with Trump's children managing the trust on his behalf.
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