President Donald Trump and White House aide Natalie Harp have been ordered to respond to a lawsuit, filed by Intercept, over a $100,000-a-month Truth Social subscriber program, before the November midterm elections.
Trump, Harp and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Daniel Scavino are named in the lawsuit. The Department of Justice’s Civil Division, representing the president, Harp and Scavino, had sought an open-ended delay in responding to the suit.
Paul Oetken, an Obama-appointed U.S. district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said the complaint needs to be responded to by October 30.
Oetken’s ruling marks a procedural decision rather than a victory or defeat on the case but keeps momentum of the lawsuit, which is one of three filed over the Truth API program.
Separate lawsuits have been filed by watchdog groups American Oversight and Campaign for Accountability, as well as the City and County of San Francisco.
Newsweek contacted the Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney representing Trump, Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, and the group representing Intercept via email for comment.
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What Is the Truth API Program?
The Truth API program, launched in August, provides subscribers with real-time access to posts from high-profile Truth Social accounts, many of which belong to government officials.
Individuals can sign up for $100,000 a month, or for $60,000 a month with a three-year commitment.
Rather than waiting for posts to appear on the Truth Social feed, subscribers instead get a direct machine-readable feed that can be plugged into trading systems, news alerts, databases and other monitoring software.
Intercept’s Complaint Explained
The original legal filing from Intercept, reviewed by Newsweek, states that the Truth Social plan is “extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional,” and that the lawsuit has been brought to stop it.
It alleges that Trump stands to gain financially by giving “market moving” information to those who are “willing and able to pay his personal company.”
It also alleges that the plan is more broadly unconstitutional and says: “The First Amendment guarantees equal access to the President’s public announcements,” adding: “There is no legitimate interest, let alone a significant one, in permitting President Trump to profit from selling government information.”
It also alleges harm to the plaintiff as a news organization and says that it faces “delayed access to the President’s latest posts, and face permanent bars to the President’s archived posts, making it harder for both organizations to do their jobs.”
Nikhel Sus, chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) previously told Newsweek: “The president of the United States is selling early access to government information for upward of $100,000 a month. That is what is happening through the Truth API scheme.
“We've asked the court to issue an order that would prohibit the president and his staff from posting to Truth Social so long as they have this Truth API function.”
In response to the filing requesting an indefinite stay, the plaintiffs requested that the court deny it and “direct them to Plaintiffs’ complaint by the operative deadline of October 16, 2026.”
Oetken’s ruling gave some leeway to Trump, Harp and Scavino, adding an extra two weeks to the deadline.
In a letter to Oetken, attorneys for the plaintiffs said that granting a stay would “harm Plaintiffs’ and the public interest by delaying the expeditious litigation of this action.”
They added that there was no basis for the proposed stay beyond a desire to inform the defense and said it was not a “legitimate ground” to grant a stay.
What Happens Next
The lawsuit now requires a response by October 30, which, though an extension to the date requested by the plaintiffs, will fall before the midterms.
Midterm Election Day is November 3 and will be pivotal for the Trump administration as Republicans seek to keep control of the House and Senate.
Democrats need 17 seats to win the Senate, while Republicans need 20; 218 seats are required to take control of the House, which Republicans currently hold a slim majority in, 218 to 214. All 435 seats in the House and 35 Senate seats are up for election.
The election could go on to alter the rest of the course of Trump’s presidency and could reshape how the administration proceeds with its legislative priorities if Republicans are to lose their majority in either chamber of Congress.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Dave Siminoff.