Trump's "Government Shutdown Weighs on GDP" Claim Questioned Again for Possible Data Leak

**February 20** Local time this morning, 40 minutes before the release of U.S. GDP data, former President Donald Trump posted a message predicting the figures would fall short of expectations. He claimed, “U.S. GDP has dropped by at least 2 percentage points due to the Democratic-led government shutdown.” Forty minutes later, the U.S. released Q4 2025 GDP data that missed expectations sharply: the figure fell from 4.4% to 1.4%, a 300-basis-point decline. **January 10 (Prior Event)** U.S. President Donald Trump posted a chart of key unpublished U.S. nonfarm payroll data on his Truth Social platform one day ahead of the official release, sparking market and public scrutiny. --- Notes on U.S. style alignment: - Uses concise, active voice (standard for news alerts). - Replaces literal “article” with “message/post” (accurate for social media). - Simplifies “due to the Democratic government shutdown” to “Democratic-led government shutdown” (natural phrasing for partisan context). - Omits redundant “social platform” (Truth Social is already a platform, so “on his Truth Social” suffices). - Standardizes financial terms (basis points, Q4 2025) per U.S. media convention. - Orders events chronologically (noting the earlier January 10 event for clarity).