U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Coosa Steel Corporation February 19, 2026 in Rome, Georgia.
Somodevilla chip | Getty Images
Forty minutes before the federal government revealed that economic growth has slowed sharply in the last quarter, the president Donald Trump suggested that incoming data would be weaker.
“The Democrats’ shutdown cost the United States at least two points of GDP. That’s why they’re doing it again, in mini form,” Trump wrote in a statement. Truth on social media at 7:50 a.m. ET.
At 8:30 a.m., the Commerce Department announced that U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of just 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025. This represents a decline of three percentage points from the previous three-month period.
Trump’s message Friday morning referenced last year’s record government shutdown, which began Oct. 1 — the start of the fourth quarter — and lasted 43 days.
The lack of federal funding was expected to have a detrimental impact on GDP. The US Congressional Budget Office estimated that, depending on its duration, the shutdown would reduce annualized real GDP growth in the fourth quarter by up to 2 percentage points.
But Dow Jones economists still expected a gain of 2.5% over the period.
Trump has previously revealed economic data before its official release, raising questions about possible policy violations and concerns that traders could be briefed by the president, who may be briefed on the data before it is released.
The Office of Management and Budget not only prohibited to officials of the executive branch to comment promptly on such posts, but prohibits public statements about them until 30 minutes after their publication.
A White House official defended Trump’s message, telling CNBC on condition of anonymity that the president had consistently emphasized how much the shutdown had held back the economy, including sharing percentage-of-GDP figures “consistent with his 2% truth from this morning.”
In a Truth Social article in January, Trump indirectly revealed upcoming data on non-agricultural payroll.
The White House then admitted that there had been an “inadvertent public disclosure of aggregate data” while attacking the media for “grazing at straws to foment another false controversy.”
Read more about CNBC’s politics coverageDuring his first presidential term, Trump showed optimism about a report on explosive jobs shortly before its release.
Trump’s message Friday morning also reiterated his long-standing criticism of the Federal Reserve chairman. Jerome Powell because of his refusal to cut interest rates as sharply or as quickly as the president wants.
“Also, interest rates are lower. Powell ‘Two Late’ is the worst!!!” Trump wrote.
He once called Powell the derisive nickname “Too Late”; It was unclear whether the president intended to misspell the nickname in Friday’s message.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Trump’s social media post.
