Why Wall Street is paying big for early access to Trump’s posts

Summary

Podcast Summary: Apple News Today

Episode Title: Why Wall Street is paying big for early access to Trump’s posts
Date: August 3, 2026
Host: Gideon Resnick (in for Shumita Basu)
Main Theme:
This episode explores several major stories in the news, focusing on the unprecedented move by Wall Street firms to pay for early access to President Trump's social media posts, the current state of Middle East diplomacy, a mass migration crisis in Spain, and milestone moments in sports and politics.

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1. Growing Tensions and Diplomatic Moves in the Middle East

Timestamps: 00:05–04:32

Key Points:

• President Trump claims progress in talks with Iran and a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
• Gulf states encouraged diplomacy, urging Trump to hold off on military action.
• Trump also announced that Hamas had agreed to disarm and give up control of Gaza—though neither Hamas nor Israel fully confirmed this.
• Real challenges persist: Hamas conditions its disarmament on Israel ending hostilities; Israel refuses to withdraw before disarmament.

Expert Analysis:

• Michael Birnbaum (Washington Post):
  "It's a big deal if this comes to pass. But he made this announcement without Hamas saying that it had agreed and without the Israeli government saying that they were on board as well." (01:42)
• U.S. Negotiator/Political Analyst:
  "The US Goal is to get them to move forward even when there isn’t any trust on either side." (02:16)
  "This could be a way finally to move Gaza back to some sort of situation where its residents can rebuild... something that is more stable than what we've seen since October 7, 2023." (03:00)

Contributing Factors:

• Upcoming Israeli elections:
  “Netanyahu is up for reelection in October… unlikely that Israel offers any real concessions before then.” —Michael Birnbaum (03:38–04:18)

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2. Wall Street and Early Access to Trump’s Posts

Timestamps: 04:43–08:10

Key Points:

• Wall Street firms can now pay up to $100,000/month for "Truth API," offering them early access to President Trump’s posts on Truth Social.
• Even nanoseconds’ advantage can create major trading opportunities due to Trump's market-moving announcements.

Notable Quotes:

• Caitlin Ostroff (Wall Street Journal reporter):
  "Often you see huge moves in the milliseconds after Trump has posted... even within that, if you look at individual oil companies and trading data, we found there was a huge surge in trading of contracts in the one, two, like three seconds after that." (05:21–05:37)
  “Anywhere that institutional investors think they can get an edge, they are looking for it because these really small nanoseconds do matter.” (06:21)

Controversy:

• The arrangement has been sharply criticized:

  • Legal experts suggest it may violate insider trading laws:
    "Truth API does appear to violate insider trading laws against misusing non public information to give certain investors an upper hand." (07:41)
  • Politicians across the aisle, including Susan Collins (“does not sound appropriate”), Lisa Murkowski (“wild”), Elizabeth Warren, and Adam Schiff, have voiced concern or called for an SEC investigation.
  • Trump stands to personally benefit, being a major stakeholder and reportedly earning over $2 billion in his second presidential term.
    "We have not had a sitting president whose company he is a shareholder of try and make money off of prioritizing access to his posts for a subset of people." —Caitlin Ostroff (06:58)

• Trump Media denies wrongdoing, framing critics as anti-free-market.

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3. Mass Migration Crisis in Ceuta, Spain

Timestamps: 08:10–11:55

Key Points:

• Over 60,000 migrants swam from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, resulting in at least 72 deaths.
  "Shops, supermarkets, restaurants closed and refused to serve them or sell them anything to eat..." —Victoria Valdesi (Reuters) (08:51)
• Unrest was partly fueled by social media misinformation after a Spanish High Court ruling about migrant rights was misinterpreted to mean the border was open.
• Many migrants cited desperate economic conditions as motivation:
  • "Actually, there is no chance to live there. So that's why I spent 14 years for studying, but nothing, just sitting in your home or working for 12 hours for a less salary. So that's why I come into here." (09:58)
• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez responded by building a floating barrier and clamped down on migration policies.
• The incident has caused political backlash in Spain and triggered stricter border controls in Italy and France.
  • "Spain reacted to those European allies with some disappointment. They said this was a moment for solidarity and not for spreading misinformation..." —Victoria Valdesi (11:34)

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4. Political Scandal: Domestic Abuse Allegations in Ohio

Timestamps: 12:12–13:03

Key Points:

• Ohio Republican Congressman Max Miller faces domestic abuse allegations from ex-wife Emily Marino, daughter of Senator Bernie Marino. Accusations include physical abuse and child endangerment; Miller denies all charges.
• The dispute puts Miller’s seat in jeopardy.

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5. FIFA Scandal and Infantino’s Troubles

Timestamps: 13:03–13:41

Key Points:

• FIFA President Gianni Infantino drops a plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity after teams threaten to boycott.
• Global soccer bodies mobilize to potentially end his presidency.

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6. Women’s Professional Baseball League Debuts

Timestamps: 13:41–14:42

Key Points:

• The Women's Pro Baseball League launches for the first time in over 70 years.
  • Los Angeles Queens beat New York Heights in the comeback inaugural game.
  • Mabelle Blair, 99, a player in the original league that inspired "A League of Their Own," throws the first pitch.

Memorable Moment:
"About 4,000 people showed up... including 99 year old Mabelle Blair, who threw out the first pitch." (14:28)

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• "It's a big deal if this comes to pass. But he made this announcement without Hamas saying that it had agreed and without the Israeli government saying that they were on board as well." —Michael Birnbaum (01:42)
• “Anywhere that institutional investors think they can get an edge, they are looking for it because these really small nanoseconds do matter.” —Caitlin Ostroff (06:21)
• “We have not had a sitting president whose company he is a shareholder of try and make money off of prioritizing access to his posts for a subset of people.” —Caitlin Ostroff (06:58)
• “Shops, supermarkets, restaurants closed and refused to serve them or sell them anything to eat…” —Victoria Valdesi (08:51)
• "Spain reacted to those European allies with some disappointment. They said this was a moment for solidarity and not for spreading misinformation…” —Victoria Valdesi (11:34)
• "About 4,000 people showed up... including 99 year old Mabelle Blair, who threw out the first pitch." (14:28)

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Structure & Flow

The episode blends urgent international developments, market controversy, and social and sports milestones with clear, fact-focused reporting and expert voices. Each segment offers a snapshot of pressing issues influencing global headlines, with a tone that is both authoritative and engaging.

Transcript

[News Anchor]

Good morning. As President Trump says there's progress on

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

talks with Iran, another deal in the Middle east is on shaky ground.

[Michael Birnbaum]

What we have now is Hamas agreeing to this theoretical process, but potentially not actually having to do a lot if the Israelis never get on board.

[News Anchor]

Why Wall street is paying big bucks

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

for early access to the president's social media posts. And after almost a century, women's professional baseball is.

[News Anchor]

It's Monday, August 3rd.

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News today.

[News Anchor]

The White House has been involved in

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

a flurry of diplomacy and mediation in the Middle east in recent days.

[News Anchor]

Over the weekend, President Trump abruptly withdrew threats of strikes on Iran, saying once

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

again a deal to end the war was coming into focus.

[News Anchor]

This came after mediators reportedly presented Iran

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

with a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. And a number of Gulf states urged Trump to hold off on attacks and keep discussing diplomatic solutions. Trump says negotiations will resume today.

[News Anchor]

Meanwhile, a different potential diplomatic breakthrough was

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

announced last week for the war in Gaza. Trump said Hamas had agreed to disarm and give up control of Gaza.

[President Donald Trump]

Israel is very happy about it. Israel helped us and they've been very good. They've been very good about it. Most said that would be a deal that would be undueable. Well, now will it go through its ups and downs? It's a very complex situation over there.

[News Anchor]

Michael Birnbaum covers the White House for

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

the Washington Post and told us this agreement, if executed, would mark a significant change in the region.

[Michael Birnbaum]

It's a big deal if this comes to pass. But he made this announcement without Hamas saying that it had agreed and without the Israeli government saying that they were on board as well.

[News Anchor]

And now the deal is already in jeopardy. On Friday, Hamas said it would agree

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

to disarm and surrender its weapons, but only after Israel ends all forms of hostility in Gaza.

[News Anchor]

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Benjamin Netanyahu's office told the Associated Press yesterday that Israel would not withdraw from Gaza before Hamas disarms. In other words, neither side trusts the other enough to make the first move.

[US Negotiator / Political Analyst]

What the US Negotiators have tried to achieve here is a step by step process by which each side does a little bit, takes turns, tries to build confidence enough to move to the next step. They acknowledge that neither side has any trust in the other, and the US Goal is to get them to move forward even when there isn't any trust on either side.

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Under the proposed agreement, Israel and Hamas have two weeks to come up with a timetable and plan for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from Gaza.

[News Anchor]

Hamas would surrender its weapons to a

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

U S backed Palestinian committee, and at that point military production sites and tunnels would start to be destroyed as Israeli troops begin their withdrawal.

[US Negotiator / Political Analyst]

People who've been involved in the process, even on the other side of the US Political spectrum saying that this could be a way finally to move Gaza back to some sort of situation where its residents can rebuild, where they can get food, water, medicine, the kinds of things that they desperately need, and where both sides might be able to live in some kind of uneasy coexistence, but something that is more stable than what we've seen since October 7, 2023.

[News Anchor]

Beyond the current trust issues, timing could

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

also play a role in how Israel approaches the agreement.

[Michael Birnbaum]

So the Israeli election calendar is a major factor in what happens in the short run in Israel.

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Netanyahu is up for reelection in October,

[News Anchor]

so Birnbaum says it's unlikely that Israel

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

offers any real concessions before then.

[US Negotiator / Political Analyst]

Netanyahu doesn't have a lot of political

[Michael Birnbaum]

space within his coalition to make what

[US Negotiator / Political Analyst]

could be portrayed as concessions to the Palestinians. That could change. Either we'll have a new Israeli leader in a few months who might be willing at least to have a different style and tone toward the situation, or

[Michael Birnbaum]

he might be able to make some moves after he's faced Israeli voters. But things do feel kind of on hold for the time being, given the uncertainty about where Israeli politics are going.

[News Anchor]

Polls show that Israeli voters, despite largely

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

supporting the war with Hamas, have very low trust in Netanyahu.

[News Anchor]

If you want to be the first to see the president's latest post on

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Truth Social, you can get special early access at a hefty price.

[News Anchor]

As of this weekend, banks and other

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Wall street investment firms can pay up to $100,000 a month for a premium version of the president's social media platform.

[News Anchor]

It's called Truth API, and it gives

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

traders early access to posts by Trump and other high profile accounts before other users.

[News Anchor]

At least five firms have already signed

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

up, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Caitlin Ostroff.

[News Anchor]

Because getting a jump on Trump's posts

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

by even nanoseconds can make a big difference in the money traders can make, since his messages often move markets.

[Wall Street Journal Reporter Caitlin Ostroff]

Often you see huge moves in the milliseconds after Trump has posted, like his

[News Anchor]

post about the war in Iran when he said in June that the US

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Would retaliate after Iran shot down a US Helicopter. Trading in energy stocks rose almost immediately.

[Wall Street Journal Reporter Caitlin Ostroff]

And what normal people saw after that was, you know, the Share prices of oil companies jumped up because all of a sudden it seemed like there was going to be prolonged conflict. And so oil prices rose. But even within that, if you look at individual oil companies and trading data, we found that there was a huge surge in trading of contracts in the one, two, like three seconds after that. And so even just in the first second, you see a huge boost in trading because those milliseconds matter. And that's what companies are looking to get in on.

[News Anchor]

Many investment firms already have systems in

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

place to watch the president's posts and to trade accordingly.

[News Anchor]

So Ostroff says Truth API would allow

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

them to take their monitoring to the next level.

[Wall Street Journal Reporter Caitlin Ostroff]

Anywhere that institutional investors think they can get an edge, they are looking for it because these really small nanoseconds do matter and can make the difference between whether they can make a big profit quickly or whether they take a loss.

[News Anchor]

But the service has gotten criticism in

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Washington and on Wall street over concerns about insider trading.

[News Anchor]

And because Trump now stands to make

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

money off of policy announcements, recent government disclosures show that he has brought in a record breaking profit during his second term, earning over $2 billion last year alone. And Trump is a major stakeholder in the parent company of Truth Social, so he could benefit from signups for Truth API.

[Wall Street Journal Reporter Caitlin Ostroff]

We have not had a sitting president whose company he is a shareholder of try and make money off of prioritizing access to his posts for a subset of of people. I think in the past with most administrations, access to information has essentially been equal for most of the general public.

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Several Republican senators have criticized the service as well.

[News Anchor]

Susan Collins said it, quote, does not sound appropriate.

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Lisa Murkowski called it, quote, wild. Two Democrats, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff, have asked the SEC to investigate if the service violates securities law.

[News Anchor]

And NPR also spoke with several former

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

lawyers for the SEC who said Truth

[News Anchor]

API does appear to violate insider trading

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

laws against misusing non public information to give certain investors an upper hand.

[News Anchor]

A spokesperson for the Trump media company

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

that runs Truth Social, meanwhile, said the service aims to offer customers faster access to publicly available information.

[News Anchor]

And in other statements, the company has

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

said that Democratic critics are exhibiting a kind of, quote, opposition to free markets.

[News Anchor]

After tens of thousands of migrants swam

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

from Morocco to a small Spanish enclave at the tip of North Africa last week.

[News Anchor]

There have been a lot of questions

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

about what drove them to make the journey and a lot of hand wringing over immigration policy in Spain and the rest of Europe.

[News Anchor]

Roughly 60,000 people rushed into Ceuta, a

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Spanish territory near the Strait of Gibraltar. Late last week, those who swam were in the water for hours, with many collapsing from exhaustion. When they arrived, at least 72 people died. According to Spanish authorities, the migrants left the small city of around 84,000 people almost as quickly as they got there, in part because Spain mobilized its military and the migrants received a pretty frigid welcome from locals.

[Victoria Valdesi]

Shops, supermarkets, restaurants closed and refused to serve them or sell them anything to eat, which means it doesn't take long for them to get the message that actually this is not a place where they are welcome.

[News Anchor]

Victoria Valdesi is a political correspondent for

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Reuters in Madrid who spoke to us about the fallout.

[Victoria Valdesi]

There are now scenes of just debris on the beaches of Ceuta, life vests, inflatable boys. It's quite clear that the exodus was swift.

[News Anchor]

Why so many people made the difficult

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

journey is not totally clear.

[News Anchor]

Authorities in Ceuta and Spain have pointed

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

to a Supreme Court ruling from the end of June in which Spain's High Court ruled that migrants arriving by sea cannot be summarily rejected at the border.

[Victoria Valdesi]

That ruling spread on social media and, according to the Spanish government, was manipulated in order to make it sound as though the border was quite simply open. Many, many people saw that and thought, now is my chance.

[News Anchor]

Some people told news outlets they were

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

seeking job opportunities and better lives in Europe.

[News Anchor]

This is how one man explained his

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

decision to leave Morocco for the Associated Press.

[Migrant Interviewee]

Actually, there is no chance to live there. So that's why I spent 14 years for studying, but nothing, just sitting in your home or working for 12 hours for a less salary. So that's why I come into here.

[News Anchor]

Other people Valdezi spoke to said they

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

didn't hear about the Supreme Court ruling,

[News Anchor]

but they instead saw videos and messages

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

from other migrants who succeeded in getting into Ceuta last week. So they decided to try it for themselves.

[News Anchor]

Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, condemned the

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

rush of migrants as a violation of Spain's territory.

[News Anchor]

He's built a 500 meter floating barrier

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

aimed at preventing future crossings.

[News Anchor]

But his political opponents have seized on

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

the event to criticize his immigration policies.

[News Anchor]

Under Sanchez, Spain has been more open

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

to immigration lately compared to other European countries.

[Victoria Valdesi]

The Spanish government has recently provided a pathway to legal status for undocumented migrants in Spain.

[News Anchor]

But Valdezi said that program has been

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

closed since the end of June.

[Victoria Valdesi]

Plus, in order to qualify for that, you had to already have lived in Spain for a minimum of five months and to be able to prove that. So these people would never have been able to get status in that way. It's you know, entirely unconnected. But of course, it was an opportunity for opponents of that policy to raise it and say that it was encouraging migrants to try and make their way into Spain.

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

The backlash has extended beyond Spain as well.

[News Anchor]

President Trump has criticized Sanchez. Italy's prime minister said they would reimpose

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

border controls for travelers coming from Spain. And France's interior minister said they would strengthen border checks.

[Victoria Valdesi]

There was a certain level here where I think European governments wanted to show strength and to assure their populace that none of these people were going to reach them. Spain reacted to those European allies with some disappointment. They said this was a moment for solidarity and not for spreading misinformation or implying that any of these people were going to make it to the European continent.

[News Anchor]

The EU plans to hold a meeting

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

tomorrow to discuss the incident and immigration policy on the continent. Here are a few other stories we're following today and a quick warning. The first one includes descriptions of alleged domestic abuse.

[News Anchor]

A senator is calling on a House

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

member from his own party to resign as a bitter family dispute spills into public view.

[News Anchor]

Republican Congressman Max Miller has for years been involved in a legal battle with

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

his ex wife, Emily Marino, the daughter of Republican Senator Bernie Marino. Both of them represent Ohio.

[News Anchor]

Emily Marino has accused Miller of domestic

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

abuse, including throwing scalding water on her and holding a gun to her head. And she says Miller hurt their two year old daughter.

[News Anchor]

She filed for a new restraining order

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

against Miller on Thursday. And Senator Marino has called Miller increasingly erratic and dangerous.

[News Anchor]

Miller has sued his ex wife for defamation and he released a video on

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

Sunday denying the allegations.

[News Anchor]

The dispute is putting his fairly safe

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

seat at risk as Marino pressures him to step down.

[News Anchor]

But Miller says that he is not

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

planning to step away from his reelection campaign.

[News Anchor]

Things have gone from bad to worse

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

for FIFA President Gianni Infantino over the last few days.

[News Anchor]

He quickly abandoned a plan to sell

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

World cup profits to private equity. On Friday, after widespread backlash, including from European teams threatening to abandon the next

[News Anchor]

World Cup, Infantino said that the plan

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

had created a level of division that threatened the objective of the project in the first place.

[News Anchor]

Now a number of global soccer bodies

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

are mobilizing to attempt to end his decade long tenure as president. To be removed from his position, one fifth of FIFA's member nations would have to trigger a vote of no confidence and also come up with a replacement.

[News Anchor]

And finally, the Women's Pro Baseball league

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

made its debut over the weekend, bringing

[News Anchor]

women back to the diamond on a

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

professional level for the first time in more than 70 years.

[Sports Commentator]

Next pitch that's a tapper. It'll be tough as Lansdale races throws to first in time and that'll do it here in the inaugural season, Very first game, season opener.

[News Anchor]

That's the moment the Los Angeles Queens

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

capped off a huge comeback win against the New York Heights at the league's inaugural game.

[News Anchor]

The Queens were down by as much

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

as four runs at one point, but slowly rallied back to notch the team and the league's first ever win.

[News Anchor]

Creators of the league and players said

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

this is a huge opportunity to play a game they love, but where no real opportunities had existed professionally.

[News Anchor]

About 4,000 people showed up to watch

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

the first game, including 99 year old Mabelle Blair, who threw out the first pitch.

[News Anchor]

She played in the women's league back

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

in the 40s that inspired the hit film A League of Their Own.

[News Anchor]

You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

And if you're already listening to the

[News Anchor]

news app right now, we've got a

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

narrated article coming up next from Wired.

[News Anchor]

A high school senior from California searched

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

the Epstein files for connections to his community for a journalism class.

[News Anchor]

What he found led to a lawsuit

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

and a huge debate over free speech.

[News Anchor]

If you're listening to the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Narrated to find that story.

[Co-Anchor Gideon Resnick]

And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.