News outlets reject Trump accusations of USAID media 'payoff'

By Lydia Morrish

(Reuters) - Several major news outlets including Politico and the Associated Press have rejected unsubstantiated accusations by President Donald Trump and right-wing influencers that the U.S. Agency for International Development paid millions of taxpayer dollars to newsrooms in exchange for coverage favoring the Democratic Party.

Trump wrote on social media on Thursday: “LOOKS LIKE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS HAVE BEEN STOLLEN AT USAID, AND OTHER AGENCIES, MUCH OF IT GOING TO THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA AS A ‘PAYOFF’ FOR CREATING GOOD STORIES ABOUT THE DEMOCRATS.”

Prominent Trump supporters, including billionaire Elon Musk, amplified the narrative about USAID directly funding some news outlets including Politico and the New York Times.

The White House and USAID did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment about the claims

Trump on Thursday accused Politico, which he referred to as "the left wing 'rag'," of receiving $8 million from USAID. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced a day earlier the government would cancel more than $8 million of subscription expenditure to the news organization.

Politico in a statement Thursday said the organization had never received U.S. government funding but that some government agencies subscribe to Politico Pro, a policy intelligence news platform. Politico did not disclose the amount its government customers spent on subscriptions.

"Government agencies that subscribe do so through standard public procurement processes—just like any other tool they buy to work smarter and be more efficient,” the statement said.

A spokesperson for the Associated Press, which also faced accusations from pro-Trump online accounts that it was funded by the aid agency, said it had not received any money from USAID.

“Our business is providing factual, nonpartisan news and information to customers worldwide,” the spokesperson said.

“The U.S. government has long been an AP customer – through both Democratic and Republican administrations."

A New York Times spokesperson on Friday told Reuters that USAID did not provide funding to the company. A day earlier the newspaper in a statement said, "Federal funds received by The Times are payments for subscriptions that government offices and agencies have purchased to better understand the world." It added that no federal grants were made to the news outlet. 

The BBC’s finances came under scrutiny in early February after Musk shared a post that said USAID funds the broadcaster. Its charity wing BBC Media Action, which received funds from USAID and other donors, is independently funded and editorially separate from BBC News, a BBC Media Action spokesperson told Reuters.

A spokesperson for BBC News said it did not receive any funding from USAID and that it is editorially independent from BBC Media Action.

Reuters, which also faced online accusations it was funded by government agencies, said it didn’t have a contractual relationship with USAID. “As with all news agency customers, governments pay a fee for Reuters news services. No payments from any client, including any government entity, influence our news coverage, which is governed by the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles ensuring independence, accuracy and freedom from bias in all we do,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that Thomson Reuters Special Services, a separate legal entity operating independently from Reuters News, has provided software and information services to government agencies “across successive administrations for decades.“

(Reporting by Lydia Morrish; Editing by Stephanie Burnett and Daniel Wallis)