In the latest MAGA conspiracy accusation, the head of former President Donald Trump's social media company blamed alleged market manipulation of its volatile stock price on President Joe Biden, shortly after alerting the Nasdaq to recent trading patterns.
Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes told Newsmax on Friday: "We will do whatever we have to do to defend our retail investors" in the company, which has shed about half its value since going public on March 26.
"And what's at the heart of all of this, Chris? Remember, at the beginning of the week, Joe Biden mentioned Truth Social and our stock price," he said during an appearance on "The Chris Salcedo Show," according to a clip posted on X, formerly Twitter. "Isn't that weird? That happened at the beginning of the week."
During a Tuesday campaign appearance in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden mocked the tanking value of Trump Media — which had already occured at that time.
"I have to say, if Trump's stock in the Truth Social, his company, drops any lower, he might do better under my tax plan than his," Biden quipped about his presumptive Republican challenger. "It's possible," he smiled.
In a letter to Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, Nunes alleged unusual trading in Trump Media Stock that he said pointed to potential "naked" short selling of its stock, which is generally illegal in the U.S., Reuters reported Friday.
"Naked" short selling involves selling shares in a company without first borrowing them or determining if they can be borrowed, on the expectation that the price will fall and that they can be bought back at a profit.
The stock has been a target of legal short-selling when investors profit by counting on a stock's plunge.
Citadel Securities on Friday blasted Nunes for the letter he sent to tNasdaq that mentioned Citadel and other major market companies.
"Devin Nunes is the proverbial loser who tries to blame 'naked short selling' for his falling stock price," said a Citadel spokesperson, CNBC reported.
Nunes, who had no experience in the media or finance when he accepted the lucrative CEO position, is "Nunes is exactly the type of person Donald Trump would have fired" on his reality TV show "The Apprentice," the spokesperson added.
Citadel Securities' founder and non-executive chairman, Ken Griffin, is a major donor to Republican candidates — including Nunes when he was a Republican congressman.
Trump Media shares rose more than 3% on Friday after Nunes' letter was made public in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Reuters.
As of Friday, it was worth about $35 a share, half of its initial price. As of late Saturday morning, it was down by an additional 3% in after-hours trading.
