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How Trump Is Using Truth Social to Concoct and Spread Conspiracy Theories

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How Trump Is Using Truth Social to Concoct and Spread Conspiracy Theories

Former President Donald J. Trump’s penchant for amplifying easily debunked conspiracy theories is well known. But an extensive analysis of his posts and reposts on Truth Social reveals a candidate who promotes sinister conspiracy theories at a scale and frequency well beyond his already infamous playbook.

The New York Times’s examination of Mr. Trump’s activity on Truth Social shows that, often multiple times a day, the former president is concocting or promoting dark, paranoid material and pushing it out to his millions of followers. Mr. Trump is so hungry for this content that he appears to be willing to share outlandish information from anyone, including both well-known conspiracists and anonymous accounts that tag him.

The Times analyzed thousands of Mr. Trump’s posts and reposts over a six-month period in 2024 and found that at least 330 of them met two tightly defined and striking criteria: They each described both a false, secretive plot against Mr. Trump or the American people and a specific entity supposedly responsible for it. The unfounded theories ranged from suggestions that the F.B.I. had ordered his assassination to accusations that government officials had orchestrated the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

About 75 percent of the conspiracy-theory posts came directly from Mr. Trump’s account. The rest Mr. Trump reposted from other social media accounts. The Times also analyzed hundreds more of his posts and reposts that didn’t strictly meet both criteria but still invoked the theories with slogans and subtle references.

In addition to the posts themselves, the analysis zeroed in on the 170 Truth Social accounts that Mr. Trump had amplified on the platform. Some are ones he follows; others have just come across his radar. The vast majority of the accounts regularly promoted conspiracy theories, the analysis showed.

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The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from The Times.

A spokeswoman for Truth Social did not answer questions from The Times about the company’s policies on conspiratorial content and the accounts that spread it. Instead, the spokeswoman criticized reporters.

Since Mr. Trump inaugurated the platform with its first post in 2022, Truth Social has attracted the kinds of users, and the kinds of posts, that mainstream and more heavily moderated social networks might not have tolerated. Mr. Trump’s use of the platform is near constant; he averaged 30 posts a day in the six-month period The Times analyzed. That frequency far surpasses his posting on any other social media network this year, and shows how much Mr. Trump relies on the platform, and its users, to bolster his conspiratorial worldview.

From July to September, Truth Social received an average of about 4.7 million unique monthly visitors, according to the web analytics firm Similarweb. Those users are, in general, part of a group whose fealty to Mr. Trump sets the network apart from larger ones like Facebook or X, which have monthly user counts orders of magnitude higher. While Truth Social is populated by many everyday fans and supporters of Mr. Trump’s, there are also sensationalist right-wing media upstarts, Covid deniers and devotees of QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory whose adherents think that satanic pedophiles control the “deep state.”

“He’s building a coalition of people who just see the world in a very dark way,” said Joseph Uscinski, who is a co-author of the book “American Conspiracy Theories” and a professor of political science at the University of Miami. Mr. Trump’s rhetoric, he said, isn’t meant to cater to traditional Republican values, but instead appeals to those “who just want to see the system blown up.”

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The conspiracy theories that Mr. Trump is exposed to on Truth Social have made their way into his campaign speeches and public appearances. He has repeatedly referred, both online and off, to an “enemy from within” that includes Democrats and government officials, and suggested that the military might be needed to handle them. In October, Mr. Trump described the Jan. 6 riot as a day of “love” at a town hall event and two days later shared a Truth Social post that claimed the attack had been staged by the federal government.

Times alt text of image in post: A pair of images of Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol, with superimposed text reading:

To analyze Mr. Trump’s account, The Times collected all 5,641 of his Truth Social posts and reposts from March 12 to Sept. 12 using computer code. Reporters also manually analyzed hundreds of posts from each profile Mr. Trump amplified to identify whether those accounts had displayed a pattern of propagating conspiratorial content.

Much of the activity on Mr. Trump’s feed consisted of general campaign-related fare, like videos from rallies or endorsements of other political candidates. It also included disinformation and hateful rhetoric about immigrants, his political opponents and other targets.

But over and over — almost twice a day on average — Mr. Trump’s account went one step further and promoted conspiracy theories to his 7.9 million followers.

A grab bag of false conspiracies: George Soros, the Nord Stream pipeline and a ‘rigged’ election

The Times’s analysis identified 10 distinct themes in the conspiracy theories shared by Mr. Trump. Some of the posts depicted below referred to multiple false theories.

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Nearly 400 additional posts not depicted above used language to refer to conspiracy theories but did not spell out the full theory on their own. This included using slogans and phrases that a believer of the theory would understand, but that an average person might not.

The common thread through most of the conspiracy theories is a belief that Mr. Trump is the protagonist of every moment and that his political adversaries are the villains.

Experts said that it was particularly concerning that some of the theories shared on Mr. Trump’s account sought to undermine institutions the public relies on, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency during Hurricane Helene, and the institutions holding the former president to account, like the Justice Department.

Mr. Trump also — with stunning frequency — sowed doubt about American democracy itself.

In more than 260 posts in the six-month period The Times analyzed, Mr. Trump shared conspiracy theories that supported his frequently stated claim that the 2024 presidential election would be fraudulent. That includes saying the criminal cases against him are Biden administration plots to interfere in the election.

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This ridiculous political HOAX, which most thought was already won by me, comes right out of the White House and DOJ, and is being pushed by Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden against their political opponent, ME. Like all of the other Witch Hunt cases, it is being mocked by legal scholars and experts as gross election interference. This shouldn’t be happening in America! MAGA2024

Times alt text of image in post: A stylized image of Donald Trump with his hand over his heart, standing in front of a background featuring the image of a lion. Stylized text is superimposed and reads:

I truly wish people would remember that all of these “trials” are concocted and run by the Crooked Joe Biden White House, and DOJ, for the purpose of Election Interference and damaging Crooked’s Political Opponent, ME, as much as possible. These are not legitimate trials, they are merely part of an illegal POLITICAL WITCH HUNT the likes of which our Country has never seen before! MAGA2024

The Radical Left Democrats are already cheating on the 2024 Presidential Election by bringing, or helping to bring, all of these bogus lawsuits against me, thereby forcing me to sit in courthouses, and spend money that could be used for campaigning, instead of being out in the field knocking Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the History of the United States. Election Interference!

Some posts falsely alleged that Democrats were relying on undocumented immigrants to vote and sway the election. Mr. Trump also shared posts with references to replacement theory, a far-right false claim often promoted by white supremacists that says powerful forces are trying to replace American citizens with immigrants.

If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET. THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO “STUFF” VOTER REGISTRATIONS WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN – CLOSE IT DOWN!!!

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For 3 years, Crooked Joe Biden has flooded our Country with tens of millions of Illegal Aliens, while insisting he could do nothing to stop it. Do NOT be fooled by any phony Biden Executive Order. Crooked Joe opposes Deportations, and he wants to turn his Illegal Migrants into Voting Citizens. He is giving them Free Welfare, Healthcare, and Housing, and he’s letting them crash our Hospitals, our Education System, and Social Security and Medicare, while our Communities are under siege from Migrant Crime. Joe Biden opposes the Laken Riley Act to deport Illegal Alien Criminals. Crooked Joe Biden’s Illegal Invasion is a crime against the United States of America. Ask Joe how many of these millions of Illegal Aliens, Murderers, and Terrorists his Order will deport – The answer is ZERO. On Day One, I will Deport Crooked Joe’s Illegals, and SHUT THE BORDER DOWN!

It’s unclear whether Mr. Trump or one of his campaign staffers wrote any individual post, but each one had been sent from the former president’s official account.

Max Read, a senior research manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue who studies election disinformation, said that after months of Mr. Trump’s false assertions about election integrity, some Truth Social users may accept only a Trump victory.

“Who are you going to go to to trust election results?” Mr. Read said. “It’s not going to be the media. It’s not going to be the professionals doing the elections. If you’re living in that reality and getting that information on Truth Social, you’re going to trust Trump and only Trump.”

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Other conspiracy theories Mr. Trump shared included claims that the Biden administration had blown up the Nord Stream pipeline to start a world war; that George Soros, a billionaire Democratic donor, was devising plots to undermine Mr. Trump (a claim that often has antisemitic undertones because Mr. Soros is Jewish); and that Vice President Kamala Harris had used artificial intelligence to fake the size of her crowds at rallies.

#FJB #TrumpWon2020 #Trump2024Landslide #ArrestBiden #ArrestObama #DeathPenaltyForPedophiles #MilitaryTribunalsForTreason

Times alt text of image in post: A screenshot of a post from Truth Social user @fireduptxlawyer. The text of the post reads:

The posts from Mr. Trump that did not meet the threshold of conspiracy theory on their own, but still referred to conspiratorial viewpoints, touched on some of the most dangerous and persistent false claims. For example, he has called the people in prison for their actions on Jan. 6 “hostages,” implying they had been falsely imprisoned in a plot against him. In one of those posts, Mr. Trump shared a song that combined his voice with a choir made up of people charged for their alleged roles in the attack on the Capitol.

January 6th hostages with President Donald J. Trump…

In more than a dozen instances, Mr. Trump shared posts that included known QAnon slogans and imagery, like the acronym “NCSWIC,” meaning “Nothing can stop what is coming,” and “Q+,” the movement’s nickname for Mr. Trump.

“He’s able to reference a series of claims and characters and so forth now,” said Brendan Nyhan, a professor of government at Dartmouth College who studies misinformation and conspiracy theories. “There’s an incredible conceptual apparatus that has been built up around the various villains that he thinks are persecuting him and his followers.”

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The far-right universe Trump amplifies: real-life confidants and anonymous sycophants

Not everything Mr. Trump posts to Truth Social is a conspiracy theory. But almost every voice he amplifies at least dabbles in them — some even more extreme than what Mr. Trump shares from their accounts.

The Times’s analysis found that in the same six-month period this year, Mr. Trump reposted or quote-posted messages from 170 accounts, about 85 percent of which regularly promote conspiracy theories on their own feeds.

About one-third of those 170 accounts were run by people or organizations that Mr. Trump knows in real life, follows on Truth Social or both. They include some of the most extreme figures in the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, many of whom regularly visit his Mar-a-Lago resort, like the far-right activist Laura Loomer and Michael T. Flynn, his former national security adviser.

Mr. Trump reposted a campaign endorsement from Mr. Flynn that alleged that children “will be enslaved by a corrupt, wasteful government of woke globalists” if he is not elected.

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Most of the other accounts reposted by Mr. Trump were not as well known, including 15 that had fewer than 500 followers. Because Truth Social allows for anonymity in its users’ public profiles, determining the identities of the owners of many of these accounts can be difficult.

U.S. officials have said that foreign nations have injected disinformation into dozens of social media platforms ahead of the 2024 election. It was unclear if any of these accounts were part of that effort.

The three posts below were all reposted by Mr. Trump, who shared material from each of the three accounts more than 20 times in the six months The Times examined:

TIME TO EXPOSE THIS COUP AGAINST AMERICA! BRING DOWN THE ENTIRE SOROS FAMILY AND ALL THESE TREASONOUS TRAITORS THAT HE FUNDS!

Times alt text of image in post: A grid of images that all feature Alex Soros, George Soros's son.
Times alt text of image in post: An image of FBI director Christopher Wray, with superimposed text that reads:
Times alt text of image in post: A stylized portrait of Donald Trump, standing with palms outstretched in front of Earth, with superimposed text reading:

In some cases, Truth Social users tag and reply to the former president over and over, and he intermittently rewards them with a repost. For instance, Mr. Trump reposted the image below after being tagged in a post:

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Let’s get an administration that is American First! #Trump2024 

Times alt text of image in post: A stylized image featuring various members of the Biden-Harris administration, with superimposed text reading:

In April, “Ultra MAGA Truther” tagged Mr. Trump in a post with a litany of conspiracy theories about Mr. Biden, including that “he stole the election” and “sold the influence of his office to China for millions.” Mr. Trump reposted it.

“Ultra MAGA Truther” is one of at least three dozen accounts amplified by Mr. Trump that either included a reference to QAnon in its bio or repeatedly posted messages with slogans and imagery associated with the conspiracy theory.

Mr. Trump also posts screenshots of content from Truth Social or other social media platforms without linking to the original post, or visual content that includes watermarks of social media handles. The Times looked at nearly 300 accounts identified in these kinds of posts, dozens of which also trafficked in conspiracy theories. They include well-known figures such as Elon Musk, whom Mr. Trump has suggested would have a job in his administration if he wins.

Times alt text of image in post: A screenshot of a post by Elon Musk on X. The text of the post reads:
Times alt text of image in post: A screenshot of a post by X user @TheRISEofROD. The text of the post reads,

In one post in August, Mr. Trump shared an image of a post on X that used the phrase “too big to rig,” a conspiratorial shorthand that promotes the baseless idea that the 2024 election will be fair only if Mr. Trump wins in a landslide. The Times found that the account behind the image had posted antisemitic content on X, including a post that said “Adolf Hitler was right.”

As Americans vote, Trump ramps up threats and undermines election

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Truth Social hails itself as a “free speech haven” and publicly says it doesn’t moderate content unless it is illegal or otherwise prohibited by its terms of service. In addition to the conspiracy theories, The Times found multiple posts from social media accounts Mr. Trump amplified that included crude sexual comments about Ms. Harris, racist disinformation about immigrants and manipulated images and videos used to attack his opponents.

Mr. Trump’s use of the platform continues to be constant: He posted more than 240 times last week.

On Friday, Mr. Trump took to Truth Social to repeat his false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen and that he would seek retribution on anyone who had been involved once elected. He said those people, including lawyers, donors, election officials and “illegal voters,” would be “sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”

CEASE & DESIST: I, together with many Attorneys and Legal Scholars, am watching the Sanctity of the 2024 Presidential Election very closely because I know, better than most, the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election. It was a Disgrace to our Nation! Therefore, the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again. We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T! Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.

The post quickly gathered thousands of replies from other users who shared additional conspiracy theories and cheered on Mr. Trump’s call for retribution.

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Though most of these accounts are not household names, at least eight — including one that called former President Barack Obama “a sleeper cell terrorist” in a reply — may have looked familiar to Mr. Trump. He has reposted their content before.

Methodology

The New York Times collected 5,641 posts Mr. Trump made on Truth Social from March 12 to Sept. 12 using Truthbrush, a tool built by researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory, to scrape the text, media and metadata of Truth Social posts. The data didn’t include any posts he may have deleted before Sept. 13.

Times reporters then analyzed each post to determine if it contained the hallmarks of a conspiracy theory. For a post to meet the standard, it had to mention a secret and ultimately false plot against Mr. Trump, his allies or the American public and point out the people or entities supposedly behind it. An additional 388 posts that included only one of these elements or only subtly referred to the conspiracy theories, such as by using slogans known by their believers, were labeled as “conspiracy theory adjacent” and were not included in the eventual tally of at least 330 posts.

These posts were then categorized into one or more of 10 common topics that were referred to in the conspiracy theories.

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To understand whom Mr. Trump was interacting with, The Times also looked at the 170 accounts that Mr. Trump reposted or quote-posted in the time period. Each account was categorized into multiple buckets, including whether it had displayed a pattern of promoting conspiracy theories; whether its bio included references to QAnon or the account repeatedly shared QAnon content; whether it was followed by Mr. Trump or run by someone Mr. Trump knew in real life; and whether the account posted crude attacks of a sexual nature.

Mr. Trump also frequently shared videos and images containing watermarks by other users and screenshots of content from Truth Social and other platforms. To capture these accounts, The Times used an open-source machine learning model called Qwen-2 to extract the social media usernames visible in the images or in the first frame of videos from the 3,400 pieces of media in Mr. Trump’s posts and reposts. Times reporters then manually matched the extracted handles to the associated account on the correct platform.

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Video: Bill Clinton Says He ‘Did Nothing Wrong’ in House Epstein Inquiry

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Video: Bill Clinton Says He ‘Did Nothing Wrong’ in House Epstein Inquiry

new video loaded: Bill Clinton Says He ‘Did Nothing Wrong’ in House Epstein Inquiry

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Bill Clinton Says He ‘Did Nothing Wrong’ in House Epstein Inquiry

Former President Bill Clinton told members of the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door deposition that he “saw nothing” and had done nothing wrong when he associated with Jeffrey Epstein decades ago.

“Cause we don’t know when the video will be out. I don’t know when the transcript will be out. We’ve asked that they be out as quickly as possible.” “I don’t like seeing him deposed, but they certainly went after me a lot more than that.” “Republicans have now set a new precedent, which is to bring in presidents and former presidents to testify. So we’re once again going to make that call that we did yesterday. We are now asking and demanding that President Trump officially come in and testify in front of the Oversight Committee.” “Ranking Member Garcia asked President Clinton, quote, ‘Should President Trump be called to answer questions from this committee?’ And President Clinton said, that’s for you to decide. And the president went on to say that the President Trump has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved. “The way Chairman Comer described it, I don’t think is a complete, accurate description of what actually was said. So let’s release the full transcript.”

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Former President Bill Clinton told members of the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door deposition that he “saw nothing” and had done nothing wrong when he associated with Jeffrey Epstein decades ago.

By Jackeline Luna

February 27, 2026

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ICE blasts Washington mayor over directive restricting immigration enforcement

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ICE blasts Washington mayor over directive restricting immigration enforcement

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) accused Everett, Washington, Mayor Cassie Franklin of escalating tensions with federal authorities after she issued a directive limiting immigration enforcement in the city.

Franklin issued a mayoral directive this week establishing citywide protocols for staff, including law enforcement, that restrict federal immigration agents from entering non-public areas of city buildings without a judicial warrant.

“We’ve heard directly from residents who are afraid to leave their houses because of the concerning immigration activity happening locally and across our country. It’s heartbreaking to see the impacts on Everett families and businesses,” Franklin said in a statement. 

“With this directive, we are setting clear protocols, protecting access to services and reinforcing our commitment to serving the entire community.”

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ICE blasted the directive Friday, writing on X it “escalates tension and directs city law enforcement to intervene with ICE operations at their own discretion,” thereby “putting everyone at greater risk.”

Mayor Cassie Franklin said her new citywide immigration enforcement protocols are intended to protect residents and ensure access to services, while ICE accused her of escalating tensions with federal authorities. (Google Maps)

ICE said Franklin was directing city workers to “impede ICE operations and expose the location of ICE officers and agents.”

“Working AGAINST ICE forces federal teams into the community searching for criminal illegal aliens released from local jails — INCREASING THE FEDERAL PRESENCE,” the agency said. “Working with ICE reduces the federal presence.”

“If Mayor Franklin wanted to protect the people she claims to serve, she’d empower the city police with an ICE 287g partnership — instead she serves criminal illegal aliens,” ICE added.

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DHS, WHITE HOUSE MOCK CHICAGO’S LAWSUIT OVER ICE: ‘MIRACULOUSLY REDISCOVERED THE 10TH AMENDMENT’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement blasted Everett’s mayor after she issued a directive restricting federal agents from accessing non-public areas of city facilities without a warrant.  (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

During a city council meeting where she announced the policy, Franklin said “federal immigration enforcement is causing real fear for Everett residents.”

“It’s been heartbreaking to see the racial profiling that’s having an impact on Everett families and businesses,” she said. “We know there are kids staying home from school, people not going to work or people not going about their day, dining out or shopping for essentials.”

The mayor’s directive covers four main areas, including restricting federal immigration agents from accessing non-public areas of city buildings without a warrant, requiring immediate reporting of enforcement activity on city property and mandating clear signage to enforce access limits.

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BLOCKING ICE COOPERATION FUELED MINNESOTA UNREST, OFFICIALS WARN AS VIRGINIA REVERSES COURSE

Everett, Wash., Mayor Cassie Franklin said her new directive is aimed at protecting residents amid heightened immigration enforcement activity. (iStock)

It also calls for an internal policy review and staff training, including the creation of an Interdepartmental Response Team and updated immigration enforcement protocols to ensure compliance with state law.

Franklin directed city staff to expand partnerships with community leaders, advocacy groups and regional governments to coordinate responses to immigration enforcement, while promoting immigrant-owned businesses and providing workplace protections and “know your rights” resources.

The mayor also reaffirmed a commitment to “constitutional policing and best practices,” stating that the police department will comply with state law barring participation in civil immigration enforcement. The directive outlines protocols for documenting interactions with federal officials, reviewing records requests and strengthening privacy safeguards and technology audits.

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Everett, Wash., Mayor Cassie Franklin issued a directive limiting federal immigration enforcement in city facilities. (iStock)

“We want everyone in the city of Everett to feel safe calling 911 when they need help and to know that Everett Police will not ask about your immigration status,” Franklin said during the council meeting.
”I also expect our officers to intervene if it’s safe to do so to protect our residents when they witness federal officers using unnecessary force.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Mayor Franklin’s office and ICE for comment.

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Power, politics and a $2.8-billion exit: How Paramount topped Netflix to win Warner Bros.

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Power, politics and a .8-billion exit: How Paramount topped Netflix to win Warner Bros.

The morning after Netflix clinched its deal to buy Warner Bros., Paramount Skydance Chairman David Ellison assembled a war room of trusted advisors, including his billionaire father, Larry Ellison.

Furious at Warner Bros. Discovery Chief David Zaslav for ending the auction, the Ellisons and their team began plotting their comeback on that crisp December day.

To rattle Warner Bros. Discovery and its investors, they launched a three-front campaign: a lawsuit, a hostile takeover bid and direct lobbying of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress.

“There was a master battle plan — and it was extremely disciplined,” said one auction insider who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Netflix stunned the industry late Thursday by pulling out of the bidding, clearing the way for Paramount to claim the company that owns HBO, HBO Max, CNN, TBS, Food Network and the Warner Bros. film and television studios in Burbank. The deal was valued at more than $111 billion.

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The streaming giant’s reversal came just hours after co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos met with Atty Gen. Pam Bondi and a deputy at the White House. It was a cordial session, but the Trump officials told Sarandos that his deal was facing significant hurdles in Washington, according to a person close to the administration who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Even before that meeting, the tide had turned for Paramount in a swell of power, politics and brinkmanship.

“Netflix played their cards well; however, Paramount played their cards perfectly,” said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Integrated Media Co. “They did exactly what they had to do and when they had to do it — which was at the very last moment.”

Key to victory was Larry Ellison, his $200-billion fortune and his connections to President Trump and congressional Republicans.

Paramount also hired Trump’s former antitrust chief, attorney Makan Delrahim, to quarterback the firm’s legal and regulatory action.

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Republicans during a Senate hearing this month piled onto Sarandos with complaints about potential monopolistic practices and “woke” programming.

David Ellison skipped that hearing. This week, however, he attended Trump’s State of the Union address in the Capitol chambers, a guest of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The two men posed, grinning and giving a thumbs-up, for a photo that was posted to Graham’s X account.

David Ellison, the chairman and chief executive of Paramount Skydance Corp., walks through Statuary Hall to the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 24, 2026.

(Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)

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On Friday, Netflix said it had received a $2.8-billion payment — a termination fee Paramount agreed to pay to send Netflix on its way.

Long before David Ellison and his family acquired Paramount and CBS last summer, the 43-year-old tech scion and aircraft pilot already had his sights set on Warner Bros. Discovery.

Paramount’s assets, including MTV, Nickelodeon and the Melrose Avenue movie studio, have been fading. Ellison recognized he needed the more robust company — Warner Bros. Discovery — to achieve his ambitions.

“From the very beginning, our pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery has been guided by a clear purpose: to honor the legacy of two iconic companies while accelerating our vision of building a next-generation media and entertainment company,” David Ellison said in a Friday statement. “We couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead.”

Warner’s chief, Zaslav, who had initially opposed the Paramount bid, added: “We look forward to working with Paramount to complete this historic transaction.”

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Netflix, in a separate statement, said it was unwilling to go beyond its $82.7-billion proposal that Warner board members accepted Dec. 4.

“We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs,” Sarandos and co-Chief Executive Greg Peters said in a statement.

“But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price,” the Netflix chiefs said.

Netflix may have miscalculated the Ellison family’s determination when it agreed Feb. 16 to allow Paramount back into the bidding.

The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company already had prevailed in the auction, and had an agreement in hand. Its next step was a shareholder vote.

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“They didn’t need to let Paramount back in, but there was a lot of pressure on them to make sure the process wouldn’t be challenged,” Miller said.

In addition, Netflix’s stock had also been pummeled — the company had lost a quarter of its value — since investors learned the company was making a Warner run.

Upon news that Netflix had withdrawn, its shares soared Friday nearly 14% to $96.24.

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos arrives at the White House

Netflix Chief Executive Ted Sarandos arrives at the White House on Feb. 26, 2026.

(Andrew Leyden / Getty Images)

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Invited back into the auction room, Paramount unveiled a much stronger proposal than the one it submitted in December.

The elder Ellison had pledged to personally guarantee the deal, including $45.7 billion in equity required to close the transaction. And if bankers became worried that Paramount was too leveraged, the tech mogul agreed to put in more money in order to secure the bank financing.

That promise assuaged Warner Bros. Discovery board members who had fretted for weeks that they weren’t sure Ellison would sign on the dotted line, according to two people close to the auction who were not authorized to comment.

Paramount’s pressure campaign had been relentless, first winning over theater owners, who expressed alarm over Netflix’s business model that encourages consumers to watch movies in their homes.

During the last two weeks, Sarandos got dragged into two ugly controversies.

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First, famed filmmaker James Cameron endorsed Paramount, saying a Netflix takeover would lead to massive job losses in the entertainment industry, which is already reeling from a production slowdown in Southern California that has disrupted the lives of thousands of film industry workers.

Then, a week ago, Trump took aim at Netflix board member Susan Rice, a former high-level Obama and Biden administration official. In a social media post, Trump called Rice a “no talent … political hack,” and said that Netflix must fire her or “pay the consequences.”

The threat underscored the dicey environment for Netflix.

Additionally, Paramount had sowed doubts about Netflix among lawmakers, regulators, Warner investors and ultimately the Warner board.

Paramount assured Warner board members that it had a clear path to win regulatory approval so the deal would quickly be finalized. In a show of confidence, Delrahim filed to win the Justice Department’s blessing in December — even though Paramount didn’t have a deal.

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This month, a deadline for the Justice Department to raise issues with Paramount’s proposed Warner takeover passed without comment from the Trump regulators.

“Analysts believe the deal is likely to close,” TD Cowen analysts said in a Friday report. “While Paramount-WBD does present material antitrust risks (higher pay TV prices, lower pay for TV/movie workers), analysts also see a key pro-competitive effect: improved competition in streaming, with Paramount+ and HBO Max representing a materially stronger counterweight to #1 Netflix.”

Throughout the battle, David Ellison relied on support from his father, attorney Delrahim, and three key board members: Oracle Executive Vice Chair Safra A. Catz; RedBird Capital Partners founder Gerry Cardinale; and Justin Hamill, managing director of tech investment firm Silver Lake.

In the final days, David Ellison led an effort to flip Warner board members who had firmly supported Netflix. With Paramount’s improved offer, several began leaning toward the Paramount deal.

On Tuesday, Warner announced that Paramount’s deal was promising.

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On Thursday, Warner’s board determined Paramount’s deal had topped Netflix. That’s when Netflix surrendered.

“Paramount had a fulsome, 360-degree approach,” Miller said. “They approached it financially. … They understood the regulatory environment here and abroad in the EU. And they had a game plan for every aspect.”

On Friday, Paramount shares rose 21% to $13.51.

It was a reversal of fortunes for David Ellison, who appeared on CNBC just three days after that war room meeting in December.

“We put the company in play,” David Ellison told the CNBC anchor that day. “We’re really here to finish what we started.”

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Times staff writer Ana Cabellos and Business Editor Richard Verrier contributed to this report.

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