One of the left’s biggest online stars, Aaron Parnas was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and has 7.5 million followers on Instagram and TikTok. Parnas, 26, also has a story of his own.
From law school to TikTok news star
TikTok news creator Aaron Parnas talks about his rise online, reaching Gen Z audiences, and how social media is reshaping political news.
In September, Vice President Kamala Harris defied tradition by choosing liberal genius Aaron Parnas, rather than a cable news host, to lead the first tour of her 2024 tell-all book “107 Days.”
“Thank you for giving me the best job in the world,” Parnas wrote on social media after an event in New York, sharing a selfie with Harris in front of a packed Manhattan Town Hall venue. “We’re just getting started.”
Parnas rose from a mysterious boy in Boca Raton, Florida, to one of the most popular left-wing figures during President Donald Trump’s second term. The one-man content-generating factory introduces each story with a variation of his signature catchphrase, “Now I have news,” and deadpans the day’s biggest developments in a flat tone.
From his forward-facing iPhone camera, this unassuming lawyer, originally a civil litigation practitioner, has amassed more than 7.5 million followers on Instagram and TikTok. His fan base dwarfs that of progressive American media companies such as Huffington Post and Mother Jones.
In December, business magazine Forbes named him one of its annual list of 30 media influencers under 30, an honor bestowed on influential people in their 20s. Two weeks later, on Dec. 17, Parnas racked up more than 5.5 million views on TikTok while sitting outside a coffee bar in Washington, D.C., talking about his rise.
“My dream in all of this is to one day run a nonprofit or some kind of foundation that can fund public defense efforts,” Parnas said in an interview with USA TODAY.
Parnas, a highly regarded public figure in his own right, is the son of Lev Parnas, a Soviet-born colleague of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani., He was sentenced to prison for campaign finance crimes aimed at supporting President Trump’s 2020 reelection bid.
“For me, and I’ve said this many times, the day my father was arrested on October 10, 2019, I was no longer Aaron Parnas,” he said. “I became Lev Parnas’ son, and that shift in public attention was really frustrating for me.” His recent rise comes as audiences around the world are shifting away from the linear television industry and toward personal figures.
Aaron Parnas: I’ve lived ‘multiple lives’
Aaron Parnas started taking college classes at the age of 14 and collected his high school and college diplomas by the age of 18. He quipped in a newsletter last year that people often call him Doogie Howser, a nod to sitcom star Neil Patrick Harris’ turn as a teenage doctor in the early ’90s. “I grew up fast, but maybe too fast,” he wrote. “We have missed milestones that help young people discover who they are.”
Parnas considered himself a Republican when he was younger, but changed his mind when he turned 18. “I’ve always set big goals,” Parnas told The Palm Beach Post in 2017. “I want to be president of the United States someday.”
“When you grow up in a household where the only thing on TV is Fox News, that’s all you know,” Parnas said in an interview last October. His father was charged with federal campaign finance violations in 2019. The younger Parnas self-published a memoir about the ordeal the following year, “Trump First: How the President and His allies turned their backs on me and my family.”
The eldest son, Parnas, a businessman, left the Soviet Union with his family as a child and resettled in the United States. He was convicted in October 2021 of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements related to President Trump’s 2020 election campaign.
Federal prosecutors said he was involved in a scheme to provide foreign currency to U.S. political campaigns and dig up damaging information about Joe Biden in Ukraine in order to support Trump’s 2020 presidential bid. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison, part of which was served under home confinement.
Obama and Harris sounding board
After graduating from George Washington University Law School at the age of 21, Aaron Parnas worked at large and small law firms. He developed a large following in 2022 when he posted a TikTok video about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when Biden was in the White House.
“I tell people I’ve lived multiple lives in the past, I don’t know eight or nine years, because I haven’t accomplished that much,” Parnas said. “But I’ve been through a lot.”
The 2024 presidential election has completely changed the public discourse surrounding political creators like Parnas. When Biden resigned and Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, commentators emphasized that influencers were shaping the national cultural conversation.
Harris declined to appear with Joe Rogan, the world’s most listened to podcast host, in October after the two sides could not agree on terms. Political observers questioned the Harris campaign’s rationale for passing up the opportunity after she lost to Trump in November 2024.
Commentators wondered why Democrats couldn’t fully match Republicans by relying on popular online creators like Parnas to get their message across.
“Democrats have started investing in social media in the last year or two,” Parnas said. He said Republicans have been doing this since 2015. The influence of Parnas and other creators drew parallels with the podcast giant. “He’s not the Joe Rogan of leftists, but he might be even better,” declared the headline of a Rolling Stone article in June.
His TikTok has around 600 million likes in total. His Parnas Perspective newsletter on Substack is ranked #1 in the News category. He wakes up by 7:45 a.m. every day, pours coffee, and releases his first Substack morning report by 9:30 a.m. ET. His loyal fan base ranges from Gen Z political observers to white MS NOW moms and Black TikTokers who praise his steady posting schedule. He typically posts about 10 articles a day.
Parnas always shares “big news” and attracts the attention of the Internet. “We now have some important updates on the Iran war,” he said on March 3, in keeping with his usual catchphrase.
Breakout Voices Skip Explanation
Parnas, who calls himself an independent reporter, had a breakthrough year in 2025.
Harris hosted the kickoff for “107 Days” in New York, but the first night of her tour was briefly interrupted by anti-war demonstrators in Gaza. “I’m not president right now. There’s nothing I can do,” she said, as seen in an online video. Parnas has also faced criticism for his support for Israel.
When asked generally about the backlash, he said, “As I regularly do on multiple platforms, I have reported on and will continue to report on atrocities in Israel and the Gaza Strip.”
Parnas said it was a “great night” and an “honor” to host the event. A year after Harris’ defeat, he participated in a roundtable discussion with Barack Obama. And he earned “30 Under 30” honors from Forbes magazine.
When asked why people are drawn to him in an interview with USA TODAY last October, Parnas explained, “The way you express yourself on TikTok and Instagram is exactly the same as the way you express yourself in real life.” Independent internet reporters, including Parnas, have also faced occasional backlash over their sources.
“At this point, I do a lot of my own sourcing and reporting, and I always cite third parties when I rely on them for any of my videos (and) content,” Parnas said on March 4.
Jess Rauschberg, a communications professor at Seton Hall University, said Parnas’ approach to content production resonated with viewers because “the way he presented his reporting was very objective, which appealed to independents and conservatives who were dissatisfied with MAGA.”
Cultural critic Saron Orcaba of the social media page @saronthings said Parnas’ success was due to his objectivity. “I think it’s the fact that he doesn’t add much of his own commentary or anything like that,” Orcaba said, adding that he is “very clear” about his beliefs but builds trust.
“A constant battle”
Parnas, who turns 27 in April, is still unraveling the “traumatic” experiences of the past 10 years.
When asked if she felt vindicated in her ability to control the narrative, given the impact the reporting had on her family, Parnas said no. “It’s a constant battle to this day to try to define the narrative,” Parnas added, explaining that she now makes quarterly videos about her family and her relationships with them.
“Some days I wish I could just be Aaron Parnas, my husband, son, and brother, instead of Aaron Parnas the journalist and TikToker,” he said. But with more than 7.5 million followers, Mr. Parnas has at least one powerful person who doesn’t mind sitting with him on multiple occasions. Harris did not appear on MS NOW or CNN on February 25, the day after President Trump’s first State of the Union address.
She chose the “Parnas point of view” and said President Trump’s speech was “full of lies.” Harris also said he has regrets about the 2024 race. “I mean, I wrote a book about it, right?” she joked. When she returned to public life five months ago, Harris first spoke to Parnas.
