Bondi sold at least $1 million in Trump Media shares on "Liberation Day"
/ CBS News
Attorney General Pam Bondi sold at least $1 million worth of shares in the company that owns Truth Social on the same day that President Trump announced his sweeping tariff measures, a government ethics transaction report shows.
Bondi's stake in the company, Trump Media, was worth somewhere between $1 million and $5.5 million at the time of the sale, which occurred on April 2, the day Mr. Trump dubbed "Liberation Day" in which he announced his wide-ranging tariffs on goods imported from all foreign countries, according to the document obtained Wednesday by CBS News.
The day after the sale, the stock's value dropped more than ten percent before recovering. Trump Media's stock sold for $52 at its highest but closed at $26 per share on Wednesday.
In a December financial disclosure, Bondi said that she held stock in Trump Media that was worth over $3.9 million at the time, shares that she received as compensation for consulting services for the company.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to questions about the sale and its timing, which was first reported by ProPublica.
Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of Mr. Trump's social networking site Truth Social, said it lost $400.9 million in 2024, while its annual revenue declined 12% to $3.6 million.
The company, which trades under a ticker with Mr. Trump's initials — DJT — said a "significant portion" of its revenue decline was caused by a change in a revenue-sharing agreement with an advertising partner, which it didn't disclose.
After winning the presidential election in November, Mr. Trump in December transferred all of his shares — worth around $4 billion on paper — as a "bona fide gift" to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. Mr. Trump's shares amounted to more than half of the company's stock.
Donald Trump Jr., the oldest of the president's five children, is the sole trustee and has sole voting and investment power over all securities owned by the trust.
Mr. Trump created Truth Social after he was banned from X, then called Twitter, and Facebook, following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. He has since been reinstated to both.
In February, X, now owned by billionaire Elon Musk — who heads up the White House's Department of Government Efficiency and was a major donor to Mr. Trump's presidential campaign – paid $10 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump over the suspension.
In January, Meta, Facebook's parent company, paid $25 million to settle a similar lawsuit.
Jake Rosen is a reporter covering the Department of Justice. He was previously a campaign digital reporter covering President Trump's 2024 campaign and also served as an associate producer for "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," where he worked with Brennan for two years on the broadcast. Rosen has been a producer for several CBS News podcasts, including "The Takeout," "The Debrief" and "Agent of Betrayal: The Double Life of Robert Hanssen."
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