Politico defends government’s $8million spend on subscriptions after fiery Karoline Leavitt press conference
Politico fired back at ‘false’ claims from the White House that it is a ‘beneficiary of government programs’ after the outlet faced questions over $8.2 million it has received from ‘government subsidies.’
The huge sums Politico has received from the US government were uncovered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) dragnet on wasteful spending.
DOGE in the process of cancelling the payments from several government agencies, including the embattled USAID, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the money given to Politico was spent on, ‘essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the taxpayer’s dime’.
‘This is a government effort to ensure that we are going line by line when it comes to the federal government’s books,’ she said.
In response, Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and editor-in-chief John Harris said in a memo to staff, obtained by Fox News, that the ‘spirited discussion at the White House’ needed to be countered.
‘This is a fine conversation to have, and we welcome it. The value of POLITICO subscriptions is validated daily in the marketplace,’ they said.
‘Some parts of today’s conversation, however, were confusing and left some people with false understandings. For this reason, we want you to hear from us on several points.’
Sheikholeslami and Harris insisted that Politico ‘has never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies—not one cent, ever, in 18 years.’
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has axed millions of dollars in payments to news site Politico
Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami (left) and editor-in-chief John Harris (right) said jointly that claims the outlet is a ‘beneficiary of government programs’ is ‘false’
The huge sums Politico has received from the US government were uncovered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) dragnet on wasteful spending
Politico’s leadership said the millions spent by the government in subscriptions were from Politico Pro, which they said ‘provides both private and public sector clients with granular, fact-based reporting, real-time intelligence, and tracking tools across key policy areas.’
The pro subscriptions cost approximately $10,000 per year, far more than a regular subscription, and records showed Politico received the $8.2 million across 236 subscriptions.
‘We are proud of the value our POLITICO Pro platform and policy journalism gives to all subscribers. As a practical matter, the overwhelming majority of our professional subscriptions under POLITICO Pro are in the private sector,’ the memo read.
‘We believe the work of a new administration—and the work being done by DOGE—is a hugely important story.
‘In particular because of the ambition of the new administration to transform large sections of the government, our responsibility to cover this from every angle is urgent.’
Details of the spend emerged amid scrutiny of the public finances by Musk’s DOGE, which has shutdown the US Agency for International Development.
Politico received $44,000 from USAID last year, but was given millions more from other federal agencies, public records showed.
The president’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the money given to Politico was spent on, ‘essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the taxpayer’s dime’.
Most notably the Department of Health and Human Services had $1.37 million in obligations.
The Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy were also among the top spenders.
‘This is obviously a huge waste of taxpayer money!’ Musk wrote on X.
DailyMail.com has contacted the five federal agencies who gave the most money to Politico last year for further detail on what the money was spent on.
It is understood that much of the agencies’ spending is on Politico’s b2b service, Politico Pro which offers, ‘non-partisan, real-time intelligence personalized to their area of policy focus’, according to the platform.
Subscriptions can cost around $10,000 a year per online reports, meaning the government would have had to shell out for more than 800 accounts.
Leavitt warned that DOGE is in the process of pulling the plug on all payments.
It could spell further disaster for Politico, whose staffers yesterday found out that they had not been paid.
The outlet stated that the missed payments were due to a ‘technical issue’, however speculation quickly began to swirl that the crackdown on public spending was to blame.
Musk and President Donald Trump shut down the embattled USAID after they agreed the organization was ‘beyond repair’.
The billionaire, who is leading a review of the federal government with Trump’s go-ahead, decided this week to shut down the government agency tasked with humanitarian relief overseas.
Staff were shocked when they woke up Monday morning to emails instructing them to stay out of the agency’s D.C. headquarters.
Yesterday, Musk teased the next target for his crackdown may be the Internal Revenue Service.
The world’s richest man asked his army of X followers in an informal poll whether they would like to see the IRS audited by DOGE, which received a staggering 94.3 percent support.
Musk’s post comes days after Donald Trump vowed to terminate almost 90,000 IRS workers who had been hired under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, a pledge that received huge cheers as he spoke at a rally in Las Vegas.
DailyMail.com has contacted Politico for comment.
