At a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to a question about a right-wing conspiracy theory by claiming the federal government would cancel $8 million worth of subscriptions to Politico. She referenced an unfounded social media claim that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had been funding Politico and the Associated Press (AP) for years, a narrative that had been widely shared by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. In reality, the $8.2 million spent by federal agencies on Politico Pro subscriptions last year was not directly provided as grants or government funding to the media outlets, but rather as payments for services.
Leavitt told reporters that taxpayer dollars would no longer be used to subsidize Politico subscriptions. She added that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was already working to cancel these payments. However, journalists quickly pointed out the error in Leavitt’s claim. Byron Tau of the Associated Press noted that it was federal agencies—not just USAID—that had been purchasing Politico subscriptions. This clarified that the payments were for editorial services and not for grants or special funding.
The misinformation about Politico’s supposed government funding stemmed from a post by conservative commentator Kyle Becker, who linked a recent report about a payment error at Politico to USAID’s expenditures listed on USASpending.gov. Becker suggested that the government was using taxpayer money to fund Politico’s subscriptions. His claims were amplified by far-right figures such as Benny Johnson, Charlie Kirk, and Dana Loesch, with Loesch even calling for protests outside Politico’s offices. Elon Musk also joined the conversation, criticizing the alleged waste of taxpayer funds.
Politico’s leadership, in a memo to staff, denied that the organization had ever received government funding, emphasizing that its pro service is subscribed to by various federal agencies, just as it is by corporations. The AP also addressed the situation, stating that the government has been a long-time customer of its nonpartisan journalism and that such arrangements are common across the globe.
The controversy surrounding Politico’s subscriptions is reminiscent of past tensions between the Trump administration and the media. In 2019, the White House urged federal agencies to end their subscriptions to The Washington Post and The New York Times, though it’s unclear whether those orders were enforced.