Trump Media Sued Over $100,000 Early-Access Truth Social Feed as US Budget Deficit Hits $1.8 Trillion Through July

Two media organizations, including The Intercept Media, filed suit against President Trump and Trump Media over the company's Truth Social early-access program, which charges subscribers up to $100,000 per month for advance delivery of Trump's market-moving posts. The civil complaint alleges the arrangement unconstitutionally restricts journalists and the public from equal access to official government announcements, with critics also raising concerns that selling advance notice of presidential posts could implicate insider trading laws. Trump Media, which markets the service as "Truth API," announced the program in July and has separately been exploring licensing the data feed to prediction markets.

On the fiscal front, the federal government's budget deficit widened to $1.8 trillion for the first ten months of the fiscal year through July, with July alone posting a shortfall of $432.3 billion, the largest single-month deficit since March 2021, driven by an acceleration in spending that included $174 billion in Medicare outlays for the month. Separately, the Trump administration is weighing a cut to capital gains taxes on home sales, a move Bloomberg reported would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans ahead of the midterms, while Trump has also asked a federal appeals court to pause a sanctions order against him and his lawyers stemming from his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.