White House ends USAID's taxpayer-funded news media subscriptions

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Wednesday that the Trump administration had ended United States Agency for International Development's taxpayer-funded subscriptions to such news publications as Politico.

Leavitt said during a press briefing that before the subscriptions were cancelled over $8 million taxpayer dollars went to "essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the taxpayer's dime" and that such spending will "no longer be happening." 

It's unclear for how long the subscription dates back, or when over how long the $8 million was spent.

According to USASpending.gov, Politico LLC  received $8.2 million in funding from the USAID from 237 transactions. 

The Associated Press and The New York Times also reported was paid for subscription services.  

Conservative commentators began posting on X about USAID funding to media outlets Wednesday morning. 

Leavitt said that the team at the Department of Government Efficiency was working on canceling the payments.

"This is a whole government effort to ensure that we are going line by line when it comes to the federal government's books," she said.