Federal bureaucrats and supervisors have sent millions of your taxpayer dollars to Politico LLC, the company that publishes Politico, Politico Magazine, and high-priced specialty products such as Politico Pro, which includes tracking tools for legislation and regulation. According to a federal spending database, the total bill was more than $8 million in 2024.

This discovery caused a kerfuffle online last week. Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson declared “the biggest scandal in news media history,” claiming Politico “was being massively funded by USAID.” Johnson provided a screen grab from USAspending.gov showing that Politico LLC received $8.2 million in federal spending.