Trump 2.0 is gunning for US mainstream media, with Politico first in the line of fire

‘More than US$8 million’ that went into ‘essentially subsidising subscriptions to Politico will no longer be happening’, White House says

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US President Donald Trump has entrusted tech billionaire Elon Musk with running the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which aims to identify “waste and fraud” in government spending. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:04pm, 6 Feb 2025Updated: 9:41pm, 6 Feb 2025

Mainstream US media houses risk losing millions of dollars in government subscriptions as the Trump administration sets out to cut “wasteful” federal spending.

Major news organisations including The New York Times, Washington Post and Associated Press are in the spotlight after social media posts accusing them of receiving huge annual sums from US government agencies went viral in recent days.

On Wednesday, the White House singled out Politico, a noted source of political news. It said Washington would cancel its annual subscription to the news journal as US President Donald Trump and his team act on campaign pledges to save taxpayer money and create an efficient government.

“I can confirm that the more than US$8 million taxpayer dollars that have gone [into] essentially subsidising subscriptions to Politico will no longer be happening,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

“The DOGE team is working on cancelling those payments now,” she added, referring to the new Department of Government Efficiency.

US President Donald Trump has appointed tech billionaire Elon Musk to run DOGE, which is tasked with identifying “waste and fraud” in government spending.