Trump Claims USAID Stole 'Billions of Dollars' and Gave It to 'Fake News Media' to Write 'Good Stories About the Democrats'

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday morning with explosive allegations, claiming that "billions of dollars have been stolen 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 specifically called out Politico, asserting that the outlet received $8 million and questioned whether The New York Times and other media organizations had also benefited.

"THIS COULD BE THE BIGGEST SCANDAL OF THEM ALL, PERHAPS THE BIGGEST IN HISTORY!" Trump wrote, "THE DEMOCRATS CAN'T HIDE FROM THIS ONE. TOO BIG, TOO DIRTY!"

Trump doubled down at a Thursday conference.

"Do you see what happened yesterday, where they found hundreds of millions of dollars of money was fraudulently given to newspapers and I guess Politico, I don't know, they're here-good. I hope you're enjoying your breakfast," said Trump. "No, they gave money to all this out of US aid, right, US A-I-D. 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 them to a point where they don't know what the heck is going on. They can't believe they're getting caught."

The claims appear to stem from federal spending records showing that agencies, including USAID, have made payments to media outlets for subscriptions to services like Politico Pro, a premium news product used to track policy developments.

According to public records on USAspending.gov, USAID paid $44,000 to Politico for energy and environmental news subscriptions in 2023 and 2024. The total amount paid across all government agencies for Politico's services exceeded $8 million in the 2024 fiscal year, according to records.

"Politico has never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies—not one cent, ever, in 18 years," said Editor-in-Chief John Harris and CEO Goli Sheikholeslami in a memo to staff per the New York Times. He added the controversy had "left some people with false understandings."

Federal agencies, including those under the Trump administration, have historically purchased news subscriptions for professional use. In 2017, records show that the Executive Office of the President set aside nearly $98,000 for a Politico subscription.