Donald Trump has amplified a viral rightwing claim that media outlets, particularly Politico, were getting large payments from USAid, the foreign aid agency that his government is trying to shut down.
With ongoing efforts by Elon Musk and the “department of government efficiency” to shutter USAid, a false claim has gained traction on social media that Politico has received $8m from the foreign aid group. The money in question was payment for subscriptions to the news outlet from the entire federal government, not “payoffs” or even grants or other aid from USAid as rightwing accounts have claimed.
Early Thursday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social about the false claim.
“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.
Trump pointed to Politico, and questioned whether the New York Times or other news outlets received money as well. “THIS COULD BE THE BIGGEST SCANDAL OF THEM ALL, PERHAPS THE BIGGEST IN HISTORY! THE DEMOCRATS CAN’T HIDE FROM THIS ONE. TOO BIG, TOO DIRTY!” he wrote.
The payments that came from USAid directly to Politico were far smaller than Trump and his allies have claimed. Accounts on X used a government spending website to grab screenshots of payments and imply, or outright state, that payments the whole federal government made to the news agency for subscriptions over many years were from just USAid.
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