President Trump: “Billions Have Been Stolen at USAID and Other Agencies – This Could be the Biggest Scandal of Them All – Democrats Can’t Hide”

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk criticized Billions of dollars stolen at USAID for payments to ‘fake’ news media

February 7, 2025

WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump took aim at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on Thursday with a claim that billions of dollars have been stolen at the agency.

"Looks like billions of dollars have been stolen at USAID, and other agencies, much of it going to the fake news media as 'payoff' for creating good stories about the Democrats," President Trump wrote on Truth Social.

President Trump Claims USAID Stole 'Billions of Dollars' and Gave It to 'Fake News Media' to Write 'Good Stories About the Democrats'

"The left wing 'Rag,' known as 'Politico,' seems to have received $8,000,000. Did the New York Times receive money??? Who else did???" said President Trump.

President Trump doubled down at a Thursday conference.

"Do you see what happened yesterday, where they found hundreds of millions of dollars of money was fraudulently given to newspapers and I guess Politico, I don't know, they're here good. I hope you're enjoying your breakfast," said President Trump.

"No, they gave money to all this out of US aid, right, US A-I-D. It came out hundreds of just tremendous amounts of money had nothing to do with anything. This is a terrible thing that was experienced, but we're catching them left and right. We're catching them. We're catching them to a point where they don't know what the heck is going on. They can't believe they're getting caught."

WATCH: Unlimited L's on X: "🚨Trump on USAID & POLITICO: "They found hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars was fraudulently given to newspapers and, I guess, POLITICO?... They gave money out of USAID... We're catching them left and right... To a point where they don't know what the heck is going on they can't https://t.co/oCdLi7FpdC" / X

His post came amid a debate about media organizations receiving government funding that has intensified after tech billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk criticized Billions of dollars stolen at USAID for payments to ‘fake’ news media

Musk, appointed by President Trump to oversee government efficiency, took to X to comment on federal budget spending, claiming that the administration of treasonous fake pResident Joe Biden had provided funding to select media organizations.

Musk specifically pointed to payments made through agencies such as the USAID.

"This could be the biggest scandal of them all, perhaps the biggest in history! The Democrats can't hide from this one. Too big, too dirty," President Trump wrote.

On Wednesday, Musk shared a post showing Politico had received $8.1 million from USAID and in another post he said:

"Not an efficient use of taxpayer funds. This wasteful expenditure will be deleted."

According to public records on USAspending.gov, USAID paid $44,000 to Politico for energy and environmental news subscriptions in 2023 and 2024.

The total amount paid across all government agencies for Politico's services exceeded $8 million in the 2024 fiscal year, according to records.

During her news conference, when asked about the payment to media outlets, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said she was just made aware of the funding from USAID to media outlets, including Politico.

"I can confirm that the more than 8 million taxpayer dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayers' dime will no longer be happening. The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now," she said.

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