Anyone who wants to keep up with President Trump’s views knows how to go to the truth of his social account. There, he finds his reasoning in an armor of the issues, including military strikes in Somalia, invoices in Canada and Mexico, relations with Russia, the causes of a deadly aircraft collision, the American ownership of the Gaza Strip and a Gaza budget before Congress.
On Wednesday, for example, after initial ceasefire conversations between the United States and Russia for the War in Ukraine, he used the account to attack Ukraine’s leader. “Think about it, a moderately successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, spoke to the United States of America to spend $ 350 billion to go to a war that could not be won, which never had to start,” the president said. “Zelenskyy moves better or not going to have a country.”
In some ways, such statements are similar to how Mr Trump turned on Twitter, now called X, to his Megaphone in his first term, when administration officials said his posts were official White House communications.
But one major difference stands out: Mr Trump is the largest shareholder of Trump Media & Technology Group, the company holding Truth Social, thus taking advantage of whether his positions drive on the site. Although he has put Trump Media’s shares in a confidence controlled by his older son, the president remains the main draw on the platform that is the company’s signature product.
The social positions of truth are only one example of the cross -role of Mr Trump’s official role and Trump Media. On Wednesday, in an excellent move, Trump Media sued a justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court, who oversees multiple criminal investigations by Jair Bolsonaro, a former Brazilian president, whom Mr Trump described as one of his “great friends ”.
The lawsuit, who accused the judge of illegally censoring right -wing voices in social media, seemed to be an attempt to push the foreign judge as he examined whether he would arrest Mr Bolsonaro.
Trump Media also plans to expand from socially to financial services, opening another field for conflicts of interest. This project will include investment vehicles provided for by industry experts would need approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr Trump has appointed Paul Atkins, a long -term Republican commissioner, to be the president of the organization. Awaits confirmation from the Senate.
In yet another obvious involvement of interests, Mr Trump chose Devin Nunes, chief executive of Trump Media, to serve as head of the Intelligence Council of President and Scott Glabe, the company’s general adviser, as a member of the Board of Directors.
All of this matches a model much bolder violations of the rules that once govern conflicts of interest than Mr Trump’s first term, when foreign officials and others seeking his favorable flock to Mar-A-Lago, in the Florida resort and the luxury Trump Hotel near the White House, say ethics lawyers and experts.
“The possibility of conflicts of interest has expanded and deepened his relative even with the president’s first term because he has participated in a much wider range of business than he did when he was last at the White House,” said Daniel I. Weiner, An expert government at the Brennan Justice Center, a non -profit think tank focused on democracy. Even the appearance that the President’s personal interests are interrelated with the public interest “is very much corrosive for our political system,” he said.
Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, said in response to questions from the New York Times about the possible conflict of interests that “President Trump is committed to using every direct line of communication with the American people. Along with his consistent interactions with the press, this tends his inheritance as the most transparent president in history. ”
When asked to comment, a Trump Media spokesman criticized the Times, saying he made false hints, but did not address questions about his company.
Trump Media does not make bones for the great dependence on Mr Trump’s reputation and popularity. In a deposit last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company noted that Mr Trump has the discretion to minimize the social positions of his truth, “which could have a significant impact on the business”.
But that is exactly what he has to do to avoid involvement in his private financial interests and his official role, said John Pelissero, a government expert at the University of Santa Clara. “It should, as other presidents have done in the past, use simply formal White House communications when talking about the government and not about the company it owns.”
Mr Trump’s communications are also serving to reinforce X, which belongs to Elon Musk, now the leading adviser to Mr Trump and a special government official. Mr Trump’s truth The social messages of the presidential introduction are usually redefined in the social media platform of Mr Musk, usually after a while several hours, in an obvious attempt to enhance circulation in social truth.
Mr Trump has about 101 million fans in X, compared to almost nine million in the truth, a number that has increased since his election in November.
“Either through the truth, the X, the Instagram or any other social media platform, the President and the White House will continue to speak directly to the American people-a long change from the last four years,” Mr Fields said in response Questions that include the president’s repetitions on X.
While social media companies are only loose federally regulated, Trump Media’s plans to extend to financial services and products will put it below the responsibility of federal regulatory authorities.
Trump Media said earlier this month that it was planning to invest up to $ 250 million in the business to offer financial products to grow with Charles Schwab, one of the country’s largest stock markets and a small New Jersey investment company Yorkville Advisors. Industry experts have said that federal regulators could feel pressured to provide favorable treatment to these products.
From now on, commissioners can only be fired for cause, but Trump’s administration sets a legal challenge for the independence of the sec and various other regulatory organizations. An executive order signed on Tuesday requires the White House reviewing their proposed regulations, argues power to exclude efforts that conflict with presidential priorities and states that organizations should accept its interpretation of the President’s law as binding.
The Financial Services sector is also supervised by the Financial Consumer Protection Office, a Federal Monitoring Service that the White House is now trying to close. Mr Trump called the service a “waste, fraud and abuse” outbreak that is led by a “vicious group” whose only purpose is to “destroy people”.
Supporters show the fact that the office returned about $ 21 billion to consumers through its enforcement actions.
Earlier this month, Russell T. Vought, who manages the Administration and Budget Office and was named as the new Consumer Director, ordered the Bureau staff and contractors to stop the work. A federal judge ordered a temporary interruption of mass redundancies, data deletions and office funding on Friday, but the future of the organization is deeply doubtful.
Without this observer, it would be easier for Financial Services to run rough over consumers, said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at the University of Washington in St. Louis specializing in government ethics. In the light of Trump Media’s plans, “it is not strange that he wants to destroy it,” he said.
Ethics experts also warned during the presidential campaign that if Mr Trump was elected, Truth Social could be a simple avenue to try to influence him. Foreigners, companies and others seeking to dominate him could buy shares for companies or advertising for the truth social in efforts to promote stock values and enrich the Trump family.
“A foreign nation must no longer rent a hotel floor to align President Trump’s pocket,” Ms. Clark said.
Since Trump created Trump Media in 2021, the company has made major losses and struggled to generate revenue from advertising to truth or via video flow. Last year it reported revenue of $ 3.6 million – 12 % less than last year – and $ 130 million at expenses. Much of the cost is obviously related to a merger and its arrival as a public company.
However, it has $ 777 million in cash, apparently produced by merging and selling stocks, mainly in Yorkville. The market value of $ 6.6 billion is almost 2,000 times in 2024 revenue.
While Trump is not an officer or director of Trump Media, he owns 53 % of the company’s shares, a share of about $ 3.5 billion now. He transferred these shares in December to confidence controlled exclusively by Donald Trump Jr., his oldest son, a member of the Board of Directors of the company.
However, many legal experts have stated that the action is doing nothing to deal with the links between his personal financial interests and his role as president.
“Whether it’s a confidence it is completely irrelevant,” Ms Clark said, “because finally money ends up in Trump’s pocket.”
Julie Tait He contributed research.
