President Trump on Thursday suggested the federal government was “paying off” media outlets to write positively about Democrats, echoing a claim promoted by tech billionaire Elon Musk and others on social media this week.
The president was referencing reports circulating on social media that showed how much certain government agencies had paid for subscriptions to various news outlets.
A number of federal agencies allow some employees to expense subscriptions to newspapers, wire services and other media outlets so that they have information they need in many cases to do their jobs.
Some publications, such as Politico Pro, Punchbowl and other niche publications offer pricier subscriptions that cater to certain coverage areas, and provide detailed reporting of policy matters in Washington, D.C., that are meant for a more specialized audience of lobbyists and lawyers and others in the federal government.
Some government officials also are allowed to pay for these subscriptions to keep up with coverage.
“Looks like billions of dollars have been stollen at usaid, and other agencies, much of it going to the fake news media as a “payoff” for creating good stories about the democrats,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform early Thursday morning.
The president named political publication Politico as a “left wing rag” that had “received” more than $8 million from the federal government and called it “the biggest scandal of them all, perhaps the biggest in history!”
Musk and others noted that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other government agencies and its employees had paid millions in monthly subscriptions to Politico Pro and other news services.
In a memo sent to employees and obtained by The Hill on Thursday, Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and Editor in Chief John Harris said the discussion Musk had sparked was “a fine conversation to have, and we welcome it.”
“POLITICO has never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies—not one cent, ever, in 18 years,” the outlet’s leadership said. “The value of this journalism is clear, as evidenced by our subscription re-enlistment rates.”
Approximately 90 percent of Politico Pro subscribers renew their contracts when they come due the outlet said, noting it is “not uncommon for clients to wish to review and discuss their contracts at renewal time.”
“We always benefit from the feedback,” the company’s leadership said. “We are happy to have such conversations with our federal government subscribers and are confident that most will see the continued value.”
But Trump on Thursday morning at the National Prayer Breakfast again suggested the payments were nefarious.
“Did you see what happened yesterday where they found hundreds of millions of dollars of money was fraudulently given to newspapers, I guess Politico?” Trump said. ““Then they gave money to all this—out of US aid, USAID, it came out, hundreds of, just tremendous amounts of money had nothing to do with anything. This is a terrible thing that was experienced but we’re catching them left and right, we’re catching them. We’re catching to a point that they don’t know what the heck is going on. They can’t believe, they’re getting caught.”
The president also praised Musk’s efforts.
“Elon Musk is helping us on it and he’s pretty good, he’s pretty good, he’s pretty good at it,” Trump said. “The numbers are astounding, they’re astounding.”
