Federal agencies have funneled more than $34 million in payments to Politico since 2015, according to public records.
Politico’s contracts surfaced this week in the wake of rising scrutiny for the United States International Aid Agency, which sent Politico $44,000 in 2024, according to USASpending.gov, which tracks federal spending.
The figure ironically paled in comparison to the cash that other agencies sent the publication.
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The Department of Health and Human Services was Politico’s top benefactor. It sent the publication $6.97 million between 2015 and 2025, including $1.37 million in 2024. The Department of Energy gave the publication $1.29 million last year, and $4.21 million overall.
Rounding out the top five in total expenditures were the Department of Interior ($3.52 million), Department of Agriculture ($2.54 million), and the Executive Office of the President ($2.2 million). Politico took in an outsized chunk of the cash in 2024, when it received $8.2 million, a little more than 24% of the nine-year total.
The agencies indicated that they were paying for $34,000 annual subscriptions to Politico Pro, which provides access to stories published exclusively for subscribers. The payments began in 2015, when Politico received four federal contracts. New federal awards peaked in 2023 at 110, though the cash sum of payments peaked in 2024. The $34.3 million was distributed over a total of 1,349 transactions.
USAID’s website was taken offline after agency leadership objected to an attempt by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to review financial and personnel records. As of Feb. 5, it had been replaced with a note informing visitors that all employees except for those deemed essential would be placed on leave effective Friday.
Musk responded to the news on X, writing on Wednesday, “This is obviously a huge waste of taxpayer money!”
He was responding to a post on X from a user name Kyle Becker, who pointed out that the Associated Press had likewise received cash from the federal government to the tune of $619,968 in 2024. “It’s not just Politico,” Becker wrote. “The Associated Press has been raking in millions of dollars in government money for years.” Musk replied, “Not for long.”