Trump’s USA

Trump’s business dealings
Experts: Trump charging a million for early access to his decisions is illegal

US President Donald Trump often releases major decisions first on his social media platform, Truth Social. For some time now, Wall Street investors have been able to purchase early access to these posts from the company Trump Media for $100,000—nearly one million kronor—per month.

This practice is likely illegal, according to a filing submitted by several former federal prosecutors to the New York court where two civil society organizations sued Trump Media in August, CBS reports.

"The arrangement violates the strong anti-corruption interests enshrined in the Constitution, ethical codes, and federal law," they write in the filing. According to them, both government officials and those paying for the service could face prosecution.

Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice has commented.

The President’s team
Top Republican calls for investigation into the Trump family

A Republican senator is calling for an investigation into the wedding celebration of the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., after it emerged that a Russian oligarch paid for parts of the event. AFP reports the story.

Utah Senator John Curtis has asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to determine whether members of the president’s family have used political connections for private gain.

"A toaster is a wedding gift. A party on a private island paid for by an oligarch with ties to Putin is something else entirely," Curtis writes on X. 

The war on the media
Analysis: Has the most TV-obsessed president in history been "cancelled"? By Peter Johansson

Donald Trump reportedly decided to bar CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from the White House after his aide Natalie Harp showed him clips—aired on one of the channels—in which he was criticized. "That’s when his frustration reached a fever pitch," the Wall Street Journal writes in an analysis.

Trump has long felt that far too few of his supporters get a chance to speak in the media. The president’s approval ratings are falling, and opinion polls suggest the Republicans could face a series of setbacks in the midterm elections.

The fact that several TV channels have chosen to suspend their White House coverage in solidarity creates new problems.

If the most TV-obsessed president in history finds that all the cameras are missing—is he really still president? wonders Peter Baker of the New York Times in a somewhat philosophical musing. Ramin Setoodeh, author of a book about Trump’s time in reality TV, assesses that this attention is crucial to the president’s self-image.

"For him, this is tantamount to being 'cancelled.' [...] It is a genuine crisis for him."
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