Trump turns against Portal by Axel Springer: fake news about politico

In the past few days, Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Authority for International Development USAID “subsidized” with $ 8.1 million. This sum results from subscriptions that government employees of the authority have completed in the past. Trump calls this sum “bribery money” and speaks of the “largest scandal of everyone”.

Trump had claimed in his social network Trump: “It looks as if billions of dollars have flowed into the USA and other agencies, a large part of it to the Fakenews media as ‘reward’ for the fact that they are good stories about The Democrats did, ”wrote Trump.

“The biggest scandal of everyone”

Trump asked whether the New York Times or other media would have received money: “This could be the biggest scandal of all, perhaps the largest in history. The Democrats cannot hide from this scandal. Too big, too dirty, ”wrote Trump.

These claims are untrue. According to publicly visible authorities in the government portal USAspending.gov In the 2023 and 2024 employees in 2023 and 2024, only $ 44,000 in the USAID employee. Payments were used in particular for subscriptions from E&E, an energy-focused political branch.

Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and editor-in-chief John Harris Wiesen Trump’s claim that it was “subsidies” back to the employees in a memo. “Politico has never benefited from government programs or subsidies, not a cent, never, in 18 years,” it says. There is only the “Politico Pro” subscription offered since 2012.

Republicans also take the service

The target group of this product is private and public customers. However, the “overwhelming majority” of the subscribers are private individuals. The premium service “Politico Pro” offers exclusive reports, analyzes and the persecution of legislative procedures. Many Republican MPs and their offices also take the service.

The baseless allegations against politico not only spread Elon Musk and Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. Benny Johnson, a right -wing influencer with more than three million followers on X and the ultra -right Heritage Foundation, also voted. The right -wing radio presenter Dana Loesch called on to demonstrate in front of the political offices.

Politico has belonged to Axel Springer since 2021

In the Press Conference of the White House on Wednesday, Trump’s press spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said: “I was drawn to the financing of the USA for media, including politico that I know that they have a place in this room,” said Leavitt. “I can confirm that the more than eight million dollars of taxpayers, which essentially have flowed into the subsidization of subscriptions for political taxpayers, will no longer flow.” They are working on stopping payments.

Trump’s administration and the flanking right -wing influencers not only get excited about the subscription to politico. Screenshots of payments to the Associated Press (AP) and the New York Times were also shared in social networks. Elon Musk described the New York Times as “medium financed by the government” after posting subscriptions that the government bought from the sheet.

Media brand politico has been part of the German media group Axel Springer since 2021. According to the “Federal Gazette”, Springer had paid 881 million euros for this, it should be the most expensive takeover in Springer company history. In Germany, the editorial offices of the world, business insider and politico are summarized.

The hard actions and words of Musk and Trump surprised many experts. The Springer Group was considered to be open to Trump. Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner and Elon Musk are personally friends. Springer supervisory board member Martin Varsavsky organized in December that Musk was able to operate Wahl-Propaganda for the AfD in a guest contribution in the “Welt am Sonntag”.