Rep. Lauren Boebert piled onto a bogus claim spreading through the MAGA universe that the government has been heavily subsidizing Politico, only to be revealed to have a subscription to the media organization.
The Colorado congresswoman hit out at the media outlet as President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other MAGA personalities boosted the misleading claim that Politico was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“LOL. @politico is trying to attack @elonmusk because he’s exposing their grift,” she wrote on X Wednesday along with a screenshot of recent coverage about the billionaire. “NEWS FLASH: No one trusts media funded by the deep state!!”
However, a community note on Boebert’s post on X pointed out that her congressional office pays for the news service.
“Members of Congress and administration officials pay for Politico Pro, a service that provides policy updates. Lauren Boebert also pays for this service in her office,” the message said.
Boebert’s expense report shows that the Republican paid $7,150 for a year-long service subscription starting Jan. 27, 2024, Reason Magazine reporter Billy Binion revealed on X.
The claim about Poltico’s funding took off on Wednesday after conservative media commentator Kyle Becker suggested that the outlet received $8.1 million from USAID.
It was later boosted by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during her Wednesday press briefing.
“I was made aware of the funding of USAID to media outlets, including Politico … And 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. The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now,” she said.
When Leavitt’s remarks were fact-checked by numerous media outlets, it came out that the “funding” was USAID’s subscription to Politico Pro—a government resource that tracks legislation in Washington, D.C.
Politico responded on Thursday: “POLITICO has been the subject of debate on X this week. Some of it has been misinformed, and some of it has been flat-out false.” The news organization also clarified the purpose of Politico Pro, claiming that government agencies utilize “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.”
In total, government agencies spent $8.2 million on Politico Pro’s services including USAID which spent a fraction: $24,000 on the widely used service, Axios reported.
