White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared on Wednesday that the cancellation of government Politico subscriptions is part of President Donald Trump’s effort to reduce government waste.
Politico became part of a broader debate surrounding the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) after social media users falsely claimed that the federal government was directly funding Politico with $8 million.
The amount in question actually comes from government subscriptions to Politico’s Pro editorial product, which is commonly used by government offices for in-depth coverage of Washington politics.
The payments were brought to public attention as Trump and Elon Musk, through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory group, moved to shutter USAID.
During a press briefing, Real America’s Voice host Brian Glenn—who is also the boyfriend of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)—asked Leavitt about these payments. She immediately confirmed that all “payments” to Politico were being canceled, describing the subscriptions as “essentially subsidizing” the outlet.
Leavitt stated,”Coming out here to the briefing room, I was made aware of the funding from USAID to media outlets, including Politico who has a seat in the room.
“I can confirm the more than eight million taxpayer dollars have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the taxpayer’s time will no longer be happening.
“The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now. Again, this is a whole-of-government effort to ensure that we are going line by line when it comes to the federal government’s books, and this president and his team are making decisions across the board on, do these receipts serve the interest of the American people? Is this a good use of the American taxpayers’ money? If it is not that funding will no longer be sent abroad and taxpayers will see significant savings because of that effort,” he added.
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