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White House press secretary Crown Levyt on Wednesday answered a question about the right -wing conspiracy theory, announcing that the federal government would cancel $ 8 million worth of political subscriptions.
Levit raised a fake claim spreading on social media that the Politico and the Associated Press received millions of dollars from the US Agency for International Development for years, which President Donald Trump and Elon Musk targeted on leave. Is In fact, payments represented the entire purchase for the federal government’s news outlet services. According to USASPEND.gov, all federal agencies jointly spent $ 8.2 million on the Politico Pro.
In a White House press briefing, Lyvet told reporters that he had been informed of US Aid Funds, including Politico, and noted that taxpayers subscribed to taxpayers “US taxpayers’ dim on Politics. It is mainly allocated to subsidize.
“The Dage Team is now working to cancel these payments,” said Levit.
But since reporters quickly indicated in response to false statements on social media, payments are not exclusively USAID funds.
“I looked at these contracts and I was my entertainment reality,” said Byron Tao, an Associate Press investigating reporter. X. “This is being presented because agencies (not only USAID) are buying procurement of pro -Politico’s proper products, not because Politico is receiving grant or other federal funding.”
The Trump administration focuses on the false statement that Polytico was then received by USAd Funds A false claim of Kyle BakerA conservative political observer, Wednesday. In a x -thread, baker tie A report of Samfor Tuesday This suggests that the Politico staff was not paid on a “technical error” that was later set on a US -spanding dotpage, which shows that Polytico received $ 8.2 million in 237 transactions Were.
Baker said via Via, “Fun Fact: @Politico received US Aid Funds.” X. “Now everything makes sense.”
Baker tried to connect the “technical error” given by Simpur with USAd funds, and claimed that the funds were promoting Politico’s premium subscriptions. In the threadBaker also claimed that the Associated Press has received dollars to millions of taxpayers for years.
Baker’s posts immediately attracted the attention of right -wing media figures, including Benny JohnsonFor, for, for,. Charlie KirkAnd Diana LoshThe latter, who demanded a protest outside the Politico offices. One in x postWashington Post’s media reporter, Will Sommer, pointed out that Johnson, who helped to please the false ideology, irrespective of secret, illegal payments by the Russian government.
Musk, who oversees the government’s performance, also worked as a baker, Calling alleged payments “A huge loss of taxpayers money!”
In a statement, the AP said that the federal government has been “AP customer for a long time” by both the Democratic and the Republican administration.
The AP said, “It gives the AP’s licensing journalism, just like thousands of news outlets and users around the world.” “It is very common for governments to deal with news organizations for their content.”
Politico did not respond to a comment.
It is not uncommon for federal employees to spend a premium news subscription that provides facts and analysis that they need to perform their jobs. Ishaq Saul, who founded the independent tangel newsletter, called the false story “Dodge nonsense”.
“Politico has a very expensive pro -subscription that has a lot of valuable information that wants and wants to pay for US agencies and employees,” Saul said. X. “As other news orgs do.”
This is not the first time that the Trump administration has stirred news organizations on the purchase of federal employees. In 2019, the Trump administration called on all federal agencies to terminate their subscription to the Washington Post and the New York Times after the White House announced when they “eliminate” newspapers. It is unclear whether federal staff was actually forced to terminate their subscriptions in news outlets.
