Donald Trump’s media company was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in connection to a criminal probe, according to the company with which the former president’s firm plans to merge.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. said in a filing Friday that Trump Media and Technology Group received a subpoena from the grand jury in Manhattan on Thursday. The Trump firm also received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding a civil probe on Monday, DWAC said.
The filing came days after DWAC said the government probes could delay or even prevent its merger with Trump’s newly formed company, which includes Truth Social, a social media app intended to be an alternative to Twitter.
Trump established Truth Social months after Twitter banned him for his tweets on Jan. 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. Trump Media’s CEO is former Rep. Devin Nunes, one of the former president’s most ardent loyalists in the Republican Party.
Neither TMTG nor a spokeswoman for Trump immediately responded to CNBC’s requests for comment.
The Justice Department and the SEC, which regulates the stock market, are investigating the deal between DWAC and Trump Media. By merging with DWAC, a so-called special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, Trump’s firm would gain access to potentially billions of dollars on public equities markets.
– CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this story.
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