(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Politico addressed the mounting criticism after revelations that it has received millions in taxpayer dollars from the federal government. Even President Donald Trump has weighed in on the controversy.
The scandal erupted after reports exposed that USAID, the now-defunct federal agency, funneled funds to Politico, LLC.
Politico has been “awarded” more than $34 million in taxpayer dollars through 1,349 transactions with the federal government in total. USAID paid Politico $44,000 in transactions from 2023 to 2024.
In response, Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and Editor-in-Chief John Harris confirmed that Politico has indeed received taxpayer money.
In a note published on Politico, the executives said the federal government has paid for access to Politico Pro, one of the outlet’s subscription-based services—though they insisted that Politico’s main newsroom has not.
“It is a professional subscription service used by companies, organizations, and, yes, some government agencies,” Sheikholeslami and Harris wrote. “They subscribe because it makes them better at their jobs — helping them track policy, legislation and regulations in real-time with news, intelligence and a suite of data products.”
The executives did not clarify whether Politico PRO’s finances are separate from its newsroom or if both operate under the same entity. Despite this lack of transparency, Politico personalities quickly defended their company.
“Nothing bad is happening to POLITICO. The entire controversy is built on disinformation,” Marty Kady, the former editor of Politico Pro, told Headline USA via text message.
“Of course POLITICO pro does $8 million of business with various government agencies. They sell a subscription,” added Kady, who recently left Politico for a job as a Washington Post general manager. “The company is fine. It has like $300 million in revenue a year.”
Critics, however, remain unconvinced, with some pointing to Politico’s willingness to act as a mouthpiece for Democrats.
In 2020, days before the presidential election, Politico infamously published a Biden campaign-tied letter from 51 former intelligence officials dismissing the New York Post’s bombshell reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The article falsely suggested the laptop story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” Politico’s headline went even further: “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”
That claim backfired spectacularly—as the laptop was real. So real that the FBI used it as evidence to prosecute Hunter Biden.
To this day, Politico has yet to retract or edit the article.
Trump chimed in on the scandal:
