Fed agencies ending $8M Politico contracts after Elon Musk calls them ‘wasteful’ use of taxpayer money
WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday that federal agencies are in the process of terminating expensive contracts with Politico after Elon Musk, leader of the Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutting initiative, called them a “wasteful” use of taxpayer money.
About $8.4 million in taxpayer funds were obligated to Politico over the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2024, according to data on usaspending.gov.
The current award amount is $8.2 million, according to the website.
“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,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her regular briefing.
“The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now. Again, this is a whole-of-government effort to ensure that we are going line by line when it comes to the federal government’s books, and this president and his team are making decisions across the board.”
Leavitt said the administration would make spending decisions by applying two criteria: “Do these receipts serve the interests of the American people? Is this a good use of the American taxpayers’ money?”
Politico, which German media giant Axel Springer bought for about $1 billion in 2021, publishes specialized policy and trade newsletters on health care, energy and other topics that are widely read by Washington lobbyists, legislators and businesspeople.
Musk on Wednesday morning slammed the subscriptions, writing on X, which he owns: “Not an efficient use of taxpayer funds. This wasteful expenditure will be deleted.”
The billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla indicated that additional news outlet subscriptions would be on the chopping block as well.
“Many media outlets are going to experience a mysterious drop in revenue,” Musk wrote.
A Politico spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
