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President Donald Trump called out Politico during an interview with the outlet’s reporter, Dasha Burns, on Tuesday after being pressed on how far he would go to remove Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from power.
Trump declined to go into detail, saying Maduro’s “days are numbered.” Burns then asked the president if he would rule out a ground invasion.
“I don’t want to rule in or out. I don’t talk about it,” the president responded.
“Why would I talk to you — an extremely unfriendly publication, if you want to call it — Politico, that got $8 million from Obama to keep it afloat? Why would I do that? Why would I talk about that to Politico?” Trump added.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 19, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump delivered a stern ultimatum to Maduro in late November to leave Venezuela immediately before announcing the country’s airspace should be closed, according to reports.
Politico included an editor’s note in its interview transcript stating: “Trump appears to be referring to POLITICO Pro subscriptions that the Trump administration canceled earlier this year as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s effort to trim government spending. POLITICO received no government grants or subsidies.”
The outlet did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comment.
Politico strongly pushed back against what it called “misinformed” and “flat-out false” claims made against the outlet over subscription fees that came from federal agencies earlier this year.
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Politico’s logo on their website. (Screenshot/Politico)
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt vowed in February that any government payments to Politico would end as Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cracked down on spending.
“I can confirm that the more than $8 million taxpayer dollars that have gone to, essentially, subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayer’s dime, will no longer be happening,” Leavitt said.
There was speculation on social media at the time that the $8 million in question all came from USAID — the agency targeted by DOGE and Elon Musk earlier this year — but only $44,000 of it came from that agency. Base Politico Pro subscriptions typically cost between $12,000 and $15,000 for three users, according to a source familiar with the pricing and The Washington Times.
Government spending on Politico subscriptions predated the Biden administration, according to USAspending.gov.
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Trump said he agreed to the Tuesday interview with Politico “because you picked me as the man for Europe, so I thought it was an appropriate thing to do.”
Trump was deemed to be the “most powerful person” in Europe on the outlet’s annual ranking of the 28 most powerful people in European politics.
Trump told Burns that “Europe is not doing a good job in many ways,” following a discussion about the Russia-Ukraine war.
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Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn and Brian Flood contributed to this report.
