Trump previewed weak GDP on Truth Social ahead of official release

Forty minutes before the federal government announced that economic growth slowed sharply in the last quarter, President Donald Trump hinted that incoming data would be weaker.

“The Democrats’ Shutdown cost the US at least two percentage points in GDP. That’s why they’re doing it in mini form,” Trump wrote in one post. Real Social post At 7:50 AM ET.

The Commerce Department reported at 8:30 a.m. that U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of just 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025. This represents a 3-point decrease compared to the previous three-month period.

Trump’s post on Friday morning referenced last year’s record-long government shutdown; This started on October 1 (the beginning of the fourth quarter) and lasted 43 days.

The federal funding cut was expected to hurt GDP. The US Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the shutdown will reduce annual real GDP growth by up to 2 percent in the 4th quarter, depending on its duration.

But Dow Jones economists were still forecasting a 2.5% gain for the period.

Trump has previously released economic data before it is officially released, raising questions about possible policy violations and concerns that investors could receive warnings from the president, who could be briefed before the data is released.

Office of Management and Budget only bans executive branch officials refrains from making early comments on such publications, but prohibits public comment on them until 30 minutes after they are published.

A White House official defended Trump’s post, telling CNBC on condition of anonymity that the president has repeatedly pointed out how the shutdown is taking a toll on the economy, including sharing GDP percentage figures “consistent with this morning’s 2% Truth.”

In a January Truth Social post, Trump indirectly revealed nonfarm payrolls data.

At the time, the White House acknowledged that “aggregate data had been inadvertently made public” while attacking the media for “doing ridiculous things to incite another fake controversy.”

In his first term as president, Trump signaled optimism about a major jobs report shortly before it was released.

In his post Friday morning, Trump also repeated his long-standing criticism of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for his refusal to cut interest rates as hard or as quickly as the president wanted.

“Also, LOWER INTEREST RATES. ‘Two Late’ Powell IS THE WORST!!!” Trump wrote.

He had previously branded Powell with the sarcastic nickname “Too Late”; It was unclear whether the president intended to misspell the nickname in Friday’s post.

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Trump’s social media post.