Here's Why the White House Is Canceling Politico Subscriptions

A right-wing conspiracy theory that started spreading Wednesday claims that USAID, the federal agency in the crosshairs of Elon Musk and his DOGE staffers with President Trump's backing, has for years funneled millions of dollars to Politico and the Associated Press. At a press conference that day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned the claims, the Washington Post reports, saying she'd 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." The problem? That's not actually true. Federal agencies spent a combined $8.2 million last year on paid subscriptions to Politico Pro, with USAID's portion totaling just $24,000, CNN and Axios report.

Politico responded to the conspiracy with a statement saying the news outlet "has never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies—not one cent, ever, in 18 years." The AP also weighed in, noting that both Republican and Democratic administrations have paid to license its content in what it called a "quite common" governmental practice. (The Post and Axios have more on the origins of the conspiracy theory, which started when a tech glitch impacted Politico's payroll and commentators falsely claimed the payroll problem had to do with USAID shutting down.) It's not clear whether other outlets government agencies subscribe to, which include the New York Times and the Washington Post, will also see subscriptions canceled. (More Elon Musk stories.)