Katie Zacharia's Nov. 2025 post tying the abortion pill to Zyklon B via I.G. Farben (screenshot reviewed Oct. 2026)

Case

In a November 2025 post that resurfaced after she was named White House press secretary on Oct. 9, 2026, Katie Zacharia linked mifepristone (RU-486) to the maker of Zyklon B. The historical facts about Zyklon B, Degesch and I.G. Farben are largely accurate, but the implied link to mifepristone rests on a decades-long corporate lineage (I.G. Farben to Hoechst to Roussel Uclaf) and works as guilt by association. The wording closely matches an earlier Live Action article. The Author files it as an example of fear- and revulsion-based persuasion, now attached to the incoming press secretary.

The claim
A screenshot of a post by Katie Zacharia (@KatieZacharia), which The Author dates to November 2025 (the screenshot itself is undated and the date was not independently confirmed), says mifepristone, formerly RU-486, is "connected to the manufacturer" of Zyklon B. It cites I.G. Farben's 42.5% stake in Degesch, calls Degesch the "sole producer" of the gas, and quotes a passage attributed to the New York Times on I.G. Farben's role in the Holocaust.
The post's wording closely tracks a Live Action article by Michael J. New, which opens with nearly the same sentence about the pill having ties to the maker of Zyklon B and uses the same New York Times attribution.
At the time of the post Zacharia was not a government official. She was a conservative lawyer and Fox News and Newsmax commentator, and joined DHS as a spokesperson in mid-February 2026 for about six weeks.
President Trump announced on Oct. 9, 2026 that Zacharia would be the next White House press secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt, who left in August. She had been senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group since June. Trump did not say when she officially starts.
In her own Oct. 9, 2026 post on X, Zacharia thanked Trump for the "distinguished privilege of serving as White House Press Secretary" and called following Karoline Leavitt "a high standard."
The circulating screenshot carries a caption from an outlet not identified here saying she posted the claim in November 2025. The original post itself was not located, and whether it is still online or was deleted is unconfirmed.

What holds up
Zyklon B was developed as a pesticide and sold by Degesch (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung). I.G. Farben held a 42.5 percent stake in Degesch from 1930. The Nazis later used the gas to murder people in extermination camps.
I.G. Farben used forced and slave labor at scale, including at Auschwitz, and cooperated closely with the Nazi regime.

What is misleading or unverified
RU-486 was developed in the early 1980s by Étienne-Émile Baulieu working with the French firm Roussel-Uclaf, decades after the war. The only link to Zyklon B is corporate lineage: Roussel-Uclaf was a subsidiary of Hoechst AG, one of the successor companies formed when I.G. Farben was dissolved.
Fact-checkers rated the same talking point as false in its implication that the Nazis were involved with the abortion pill, noting the drug was created by a French company in the 1980s.
The "sole producer" wording is questionable. Some historical accounts say Degesch handled patents and sales while other firms manufactured the product, and that Degussa held an equal 42.5 percent stake in Degesch. The "five seats of 11" board detail and the quoted New York Times passage were not independently verified here.
The same talking point was used in 2022 by a Kentucky state legislator in a speech supporting restrictions on mifepristone. He later apologized after Jewish groups condemned it.

Other false claims attributed to Zacharia
Multiple outlets report that Zacharia has asserted the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. In a December 2025 post responding to a tribute to a slain National Guard soldier, the Daily Beast reports she blamed a "stolen" 2020 election and an "autopen presidency" for the death, though the soldier was deployed in August 2025, months after Biden left office, and she offered no evidence for the link.
MS NOW also reports she has called climate change a hoax and claimed green energy was a Chinese plot to subdue the United States.
The 2020 election was not stolen. Biden won, and Trump and his allies lost more than 60 lawsuits challenging the result.
The Bulwark reports she appears to have removed many older posts from an earlier account under the same handle before her appointment. That report does not say whether the mifepristone post was among them, and its current status remains unconfirmed.

Perspectives

Editorial read — The Author (site author), thesis
The post pairs true Holocaust history with a thin corporate-lineage link to evoke revulsion, using fear and moral contamination in place of an argument about the drug itself. The Author files it as an example of misleading information, societal control through fear, and the rhetorical habits of fascism. This is the Author's characterization, not a sourced finding.

Defender — Live Action and other anti-abortion advocates
The corporate history is factual: Hoechst was a successor to I.G. Farben and the parent of Roussel-Uclaf, and the connection deserves to be known. Advocates present it as historical context for opposing chemical abortion.

Note
Anti-abortion groups such as Live Action argue the corporate lineage is a relevant historical fact; fact-checkers and historians say it does not connect the drug to the Holocaust.

Sources
[1] Lead Stories fact check (https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2024/02/fact-check-nazis-were-not-involved-with-abortion-pill-ru-486.html) · 2024-02
[2] BASF corporate history: Chemical warfare agents and Zyklon B (https://basf.com/global/en/who-we-are/history/chronology/1925-1944/1933-1945/kampfstoffe-und-zyklon-b)
[3] Christian Post on Live Action white paper (https://assets.christianpost.com/news/3-takeaways-from-live-actions-abortion-pill-expos.html?page=4)
[4] JTA via St. Louis Jewish Light (https://stljewishlight.org/?p=230529) · 2022-03-03
[5] NewsNation (syndicated from The Hill) (https://digital-dev.newsnationnow.com/politics/katie-zacharia-dhs-spokesperson/amp/) · 2026-03-31
[6] ABC News: Katie Zacharia appointed White House press secretary (https://abcnews.com/Politics/katie-zacharia-offered-white-house-press-secretary-job/story?id=137140926) · 2026-10-09
[7] Al Jazeera: Katie Zacharia selected as next White House press secretary (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/9/katie-zacharia-offered-position-as-white-house-press-secretary) · 2026-10-09
[8] Live Action (Michael J. New): connection between the abortion pill and Zyklon B (https://www.liveaction.org/news/connection-abortion-pill-zyklonb-gas-holocaust/)
[9] Katie Zacharia on X: acceptance post as White House press secretary (https://x.com/KatieZacharia/status/2108660604181618818) · 2026-10-09
[10] Daily Beast (via Yahoo): Trump's New Press Secretary Busted Peddling Bonkers Nazi Claim (https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-press-secretary-busted-peddling-223714787.html) · 2026-10-10
[11] MS NOW: White House names Katie Zacharia as new press secretary (https://www.ms.now/news/white-house-names-katie-zacharia-as-new-press-secretary) · 2026-10-09
[12] The Bulwark: The Deleted Tweets of the New White House Press Secretary (https://www.thebulwark.com/p/katie-zacharia-twitter-x-deleted-tweets) · 2026-10-10
[13] PolitiFact via PBS NewsHour: 2020 election was not stolen (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-check-trumps-2024-win-doesnt-prove-claims-that-the-2020-election-was-stolen) · 2024-11-07

Connections

Shared mechanism — AI-generated disinformation and deepfakes on Truth Social
Both show administration-aligned figures spreading misleading content to shape public opinion; here the press secretary uses a guilt-by-association claim, there Trump posts AI-generated and manipulated media on Truth Social.

Related — Election denial and interference efforts before the Nov. 2026 midterms: pardons, the Tina Peters case, Georgia's federal-intervention letters and National Guard troops near a DC ballot box
Zacharia, named press secretary Oct. 9, 2026, is reported to have promoted the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

Same context — EPA drinking-water testing for abortion pills (mifepristone/misoprostol)
Both concern the administration's current political focus on mifepristone and the abortion pill, one through rhetoric about the drug, the other through a federal drinking-water study.

Same actor — Thesis: Trump and allies are pushing for federal control over the 2026 midterm elections
Zacharia, the incoming White House press secretary, has been reported to promote the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, the same narrative the thesis tracks.

Related — Venezuela's 31 tons of Bank of England gold: U.S.-supervised release plan and the viral "already transferred" claim (Aug.-Sept. 2026)
Both entries are tagged misinformation and cover viral claims that go beyond what the underlying record supports.