White House Cancels Subscriptions to Politico After Spending $8.2M Since 2016

The White House is canceling government subscriptions to Politico (Lean Left bias) following criticism from Elon Musk and his new government advisory organization, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Details: Government departments paid Politico $8.2 million between fiscal year 2016 and fiscal year 2025, according to usaspending.gov. The funds were reportedly for subscriptions to Politico's publications and editorial services.

Key Quotes: “I can confirm that the more than eight million taxpayer dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayer’s dime will no longer be happening,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

USAID, Payroll Claims: Some social media commenters took issue with "sending U.S. taxpayer money to a biased, partisan, establishment publication." Others highlighted Politico's payroll issues, implied without hard evidence that the government was paying Politico for favorable coverage, and wrongly stated that Politico is "massively funded” by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), in posts seen millions of times. USAID accounted for $44,000 of the $8.2 million paid to Politico, less than 1%.

Right Media's Reaction: Right-rated outlets often suggested the spending was wasteful, and were less specific about the amount or the fact that the funds were for subscriptions. The New York Post (Lean Right) said the data showed how "$8.4 million in taxpayer funds were obligated to Politico."

Other Media's Reaction: Left- and center-rated outlets focused on disproving theories around USAID or possible ulterior motives for the funds. These outlets rarely mentioned critiques about wastefulness or Politico's bias. CNN (Lean Left) said "Leavitt elevated a bogus claim spreading on social media” about USAID.

Misinformation Circulating: The USAID funding wasn't a "massive" amount, as some have claimed. In addition, Axios (Lean Left) wrongly reported that "the government paid Politico $8.2 million in the last 12 months." The funds were spread over 10 years. As of Wednesday at 8:02pm ET, it hadn't been corrected.