At Wednesday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she had been “made aware that USAID has funded media outlets like Politico. I can confirm that more than $8 million that has gone to subsidizing subscriptions will no longer be happening.”
Leavitt’s statement seems to stem from a post on X. A user shared a screenshot from USAspending.gov showing that the government paid $8.2 million to Politico over the past year.
On Tuesday, February 4, it was reported that Politico had missed payroll. Company management said the payroll delay was a technical error. Employees were eventually paid the next morning.
Users on X began speculating that the payroll issue was related to the administration’s efforts to eliminate USAID. However, records from USAspending.gov show payments to Politico totaling only $44,000 from USAID during fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
On Wednesday, Elon Musk commented on a post that claimed to show that 37 FDA employees paid about $500,000 for Politico Pro subscriptions. Musk posted: “Not an efficient use of taxpayer funds. This wasteful expenditure will be deleted.”
The Washington Post reports that late yesterday, Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and Editor-in-Chief John Harris sent a memo to staff. It noted the “spirited discussion” at the White House about government subscriptions to Politico and other news outlets.
The memo stated that the company “has never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies — not one cent, ever, in 18 years.” And that “the overwhelming majority of our professional subscriptions under Politico Pro are in the private sector.”
Founded in 2007, the Arlington-based news organization calls itself “the most robust news operation and information service in the world specializing in politics and policy.”
Feature image courtesy Politico
