A major investigation is being called for after Donald Trump illegally tweeted about the jobs report numbers an hour before they were officially released.
Trump tweeted:
Looking forward to seeing the employment numbers at 8:30 this morning.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 1, 2018
Trump got the jobs numbers early because his economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, told him about them last night:
Larry Kudlow says he told the president on Air Force One last night about the jobs numbers. "He chose to tweet."
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) June 1, 2018
Economic experts said that Trump broke the law because jobs numbers are classified information until their release:
If the president just tipped that the numbers are good, he broke the law https://t.co/8MDJZAS22j
— Austan Goolsbee (@Austan_Goolsbee) June 1, 2018
If during the Clinton or Obama Administrations there had been a statement from @POTUS or anyone senior official in the morning before the Employment Report it would have been a major scandal—with all sorts of investigations following on.
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) June 1, 2018
You should have gotten the employment numbers from the Council of Economic Advisers yesterday.
And if this tweet is conveying inside information about a particularly good jobs number you should never get them in advance from the Council of Economic Advisers again. https://t.co/Qd3ig89onT
— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) June 1, 2018
The jobs numbers are considered confidential information, because if they are leaked, they can be used for insider trading:
There is a big question about who he privately leaks data to and that should be investigated.
Privately leaking this information makes money for those who get it. Where does the money they “make” come from? People who don’t have the information. https://t.co/NoHuJTWUTX— Betsey Stevenson (@BetseyStevenson) June 1, 2018
Federal officials are prohibited from discussing the jobs numbers early
By statute, federal officials are prohibited from discussing the jobs numbers before their release. When Kudlow gave the number to Trump early, he violated the law. Trump’s tweet, even though he didn’t discuss specific numbers was also a violation. The bigger issue is that Trump is known to blab classified information to his friends, or anyone within earshot of his rambling.
A legitimate Congress, as in not one controlled by Republicans, would already be investigating who Trump gave these numbers to early and if they were used illegally to insider trade.
Trump’s casual breaking of laws is the biggest reason why the nation needs to elect a Democratic Congress in November.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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