







































Top Trump Media Execs Ousted as CEO Devin Nunes Faces Mismanagement Allegations — ProPublica



































Skip to content  Menu Menu  ProPublica  Donate   ProPublica Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest  Menu Menu  Search Search    Donate   Nonprofit Explorer Local Initiatives Newsletters About Us   Mail Email Address:   Arrow Right Sign Up           Menu Menu  ProPublica  Donate   Close Close  ProPublica  Donate   Search ProPublica:  Search Search  Topics  Racial Justice  Racial Justice Healthcare  Health Care Politics  Politics Criminal Justice  Criminal Justice  more…  Browse by Place   Midwest  Northwest  South  Southwest  Texas  Type   Graphics & Data  Newsletters  Series  Videos    Local Reporting Network  Electionland  Data Store  Info   About Us  Impact  Jobs & Fellowships  Contact Us   Follow ProPublica  Bluesky Bluesky   Instagram Instagram   Facebook Facebook   X (Twitter)   YouTube YouTube   Threads Threads   LinkedIn LinkedIn   RSS RSS    








Trump Media CEO and former Rep. Devin Nunes and former President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention

Credit: 
        Leon Neal/Getty Images
    



        Top Execs Exit Trump Media Amid Allegations of CEO’s Mismanagement and Retaliation
    
        Several people involved with the former president’s company, operator of Truth Social, believe the departures were retaliation following internal complaints about CEO Devin Nunes to the company board.
    
 



        by Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski 

Oct. 3, 2024, 7:25 p.m. EDT



  Share  


 Contrast  Change Appearance  Change Appearance AutoLightDark 

Republish





ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.


Former President Donald Trump’s media company has forced out executives in recent days after internal allegations that its CEO, former Rep. Devin Nunes, is mismanaging the company, according to interviews and records of communications among former employees.
Several people involved with Trump Media believe the ousters are retaliation following what they describe as an anonymous “whistleblower” complaint regarding Nunes that went to the company’s board of directors.
The chief operating officer and chief product officer have left the company, along with at least two lower-level staffers, according to interviews, social media posts and communications between former staffers reviewed by ProPublica. The company, which runs the social media platform Truth Social, disclosed the departure of the chief operating officer in a securities filing Thursday afternoon.
ProPublica has not seen the whistleblower complaint. But several people with knowledge of the company said the concerns revolve around alleged mismanagement by Nunes. One person said they include allegations of misuse of funds, hiring of foreign contractors and interfering with product development.



In a statement, a spokesperson for Trump Media did not answer specific questions but said that ProPublica’s inquiry to the company “utterly fabricates implications of improper and even illegal conduct that have no basis in reality.”
“This story is the fifth consecutive piece in an increasingly absurd campaign by ProPublica, likely at the behest of political interest groups, to damage TMTG based on false and defamatory allegations and vague innuendo,” the statement said, adding that “TMTG strictly adheres to all laws and applicable regulations.”
Trump Media’s board comprises a set of powerful figures in Trump’s world, including his son Donald Trump Jr., former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and the businesswoman Linda McMahon, a major donor and current co-chair of Trump’s transition planning committee.
Nunes was named CEO of the company in 2021, with Trump hailing him as “a fighter and a leader” who “will make an excellent CEO.” As a member of Congress, Nunes was known as one of Trump’s staunchest loyalists.
After the internal allegations about Nunes were made at Trump Media, the company enlisted a lawyer to investigate and interview staffers, according to a person with knowledge of the company.
Then, last week, some employees who were interviewed by the lawyer were notified they were being pushed out, the person said. The employees being pushed out include a human relations director and a product designer, along with Chief Operating Officer Andrew Northwall and Chief Product Officer Sandro De Moraes. The person with knowledge of the company said Trump Media asked the employees to sign an agreement pledging not to make public claims of wrongdoing against the company in exchange for severance.
On Thursday afternoon, Northwall posted on Truth Social announcing he had “decided to resign from my role at Trump Media,” adding that he was “incredibly grateful” to Trump and Nunes “for this opportunity.”



“As I step back, I look forward to focusing more on my family and returning to my entrepreneurial journey,” the statement said.
De Moraes now identifies himself on his Truth Social bio as the “Former Chief Product Officer” of the company.
Some word of the departures became public earlier this week when former Trump Media employee Alex Gleason said in a social media post that “Truth Social in shambles. Many more people fired.”
Trump personally owns nearly 60% of the company. That stake, even after a recent decline in the company’s stock price, is worth nearly $2 billion on paper, a significant chunk of Trump’s fortune. He said last month he was not planning to sell his shares. What role Trump plays, if any, in the day-to-day operations of the company is not clear.



ProPublica





Read More







What a $2 Million Per Dose Gene Therapy Reveals About Drug Pricing



Since it launched in 2021, the company has become a speculation-fueled meme stock, but its actual business has generated virtually no revenue and Truth Social has not emerged as a serious competitor to the major social media platforms.
Among Nunes’ moves as CEO, as ProPublica has reported, was inking a large streaming TV deal with several obscure firms, including one controlled by a major political donor. He also traveled to the Balkans over the summer and met with the prime minister of North Macedonia, a trip whose purpose was never publicly explained by the company.
Trump Media has a formal whistleblower policy, adopted when the company went public in March, that encourages employees to report illegal activity and other “business conduct that damages the Company’s good name” and business interests.


Do you have any information about Trump Media that we should know? Robert Faturechi can be reached by email at [email protected] and by Signal or WhatsApp at 213-271-7217. Justin Elliott can be reached by email at [email protected] or by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.









Robert Faturechi





X









Bluesky









Threads









LinkedIn







 

I am a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at ProPublica.


More Stories



  Contact Me  


 

Contact me, by email or securely on Signal, with tips about the federal government and Trump’s businesses.
 
 




Justin Elliott





Facebook









X









Bluesky









LinkedIn







 

I am a ProPublica reporter covering business and politics.


More Stories



  Contact Me  


 
 
 




Alex Mierjeski





X





 

I’m a research reporter at ProPublica based in New York.


More Stories



  Contact Me  


 
 
 
 






Most Read











                                    Trump Vowed to Clean Up Washington, Then His Team Hired a Man Who Pushed a Scam the IRS Called the “Worst of the Worst”
                            


                            Frank Schuler was a leading promoter of a tax deduction derided as a scam by prosecutors, senators and the IRS. Now he’s a senior adviser to the General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s property.
                    

            by Peter Elkind,             Feb. 18, 2025, 6 a.m. EST














                                    Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy
                            


                            Now one of the most powerful people in the U.S. government, Peter Marocco’s turbulent tenure during the first Trump administration sheds light on his current efforts to dismantle the American foreign aid system from the inside out.
                    

            by Brett Murphy and Anna Maria Barry-Jester,             Feb. 15, 2025, 9 p.m. EST














                                    “We’ve Been Essentially Muzzled”: Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations Under Trump
                            


                            Since Inauguration Day, the Office for Civil Rights has only opened about 20 investigations focused on Trump’s priorities, placing more than 10,000 student complaints related to disability access and sexual and racial harassment on hold.
                    

            by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,             Feb. 13, 2025, 9:30 p.m. EST














                                    The One That Got Away: This Small Town Is Left in Limbo After Betting Big on GMO Salmon
                            


                            AquaBounty GMO salmon was going to be the future of fish — and the future for one Ohio village that offered incentives to make a new facility happen. But years after breaking ground, there are no fancy fish tanks. No designer fish. No new jobs.
                    

            by Anna Clark,             Feb. 18, 2025, 5 a.m. EST












The New Immigration


                                    U.S. Claims Immigrants Held at Guantanamo Are “Worst of the Worst.” Their Families Say They’re Being Unfairly Targeted.
                            


                            ProPublica and The Texas Tribune have identified nearly a dozen immigrants who have been flown to Guantanamo Bay. Government officials have refused to release the names of detainees or provide details about the crimes that landed them in detention.
                    

            by Perla Trevizo and Mica Rosenberg, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune,             Feb. 13, 2025, 1:20 p.m. CST




 
 


Stay informed with the Daily Digest.  Mail Email Address:   Arrow Right Sign Up            ProPublica Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest © Copyright 2025 Pro Publica Inc.   Sites ProPublica Local Reporting Network Texas Tribune Partnership The Data Store Electionland    Sections Topics Series Videos News Apps Get Involved The Nerd Blog @ProPublica Events    Info About Board and Advisors Officers and Staff Diversity Jobs and Fellowships Media Center Reports Impact Awards Corrections    Policies Code of Ethics Advertising Policy Privacy Policy    Follow Newsletters iOS and Android RSS Feed    More Send Us Tips Steal Our Stories Browse via Tor Contact Us Donate More Ways to Give     







Close




Close this dialogue






Republish This Story for Free
Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Thank you for your interest in republishing this story. You are free to republish it so long as you do the following:

You have to credit ProPublica and any co-reporting partners. In the byline, we prefer “Author Name, Publication(s).” At the top of the text of your story, include a line that reads: “This story was originally published by ProPublica.” You must link the word “ProPublica” to the original URL of the story.
If you’re republishing online, you must link to the URL of this story on propublica.org, include all of the links from our story, including our newsletter sign up language and link, and use our PixelPing tag.
If you use canonical metadata, please use the ProPublica URL. For more information about canonical metadata, refer to this Google SEO link.
You can’t edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. (For example, “yesterday” can be changed to “last week,” and “Portland, Ore.” to “Portland” or “here.”)
You cannot republish our photographs or illustrations without specific permission. Please contact [email protected].
It’s okay to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. You can’t state or imply that donations to your organization support ProPublica’s work.
You can’t sell our material separately or syndicate it. This includes publishing or syndicating our work on platforms or apps such as Apple News, Google News, etc.
You can’t republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. (To inquire about syndication or licensing opportunities, contact [email protected].)
You can’t use our work to populate a website designed to improve rankings on search engines or solely to gain revenue from network-based advertisements.
We do not generally permit translation of our stories into another language.
Any website our stories appear on must include a prominent and effective way to contact you.




Copy HTML







 undefined undefined    





















Mismanagement and retaliation? Now where have I heard that before?