Trump calls out US government media payments: Reuters must return the money!

In a fiery post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump called on the international news agency Reuters to return funds it had received from the US government.

“Return the money now,” Trump demanded, accusing the agency of benefiting from taxpayer dollars while pushing misleading narratives, Caliber.Az reports.

Trump didn’t stop at Reuters. He also vowed to return to American taxpayers the money that federal agencies previously spent on subscriptions to major media outlets, including Politico, and The New York Times.

White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed that the administration had already moved to cancel federal subscriptions to Politico, which amounted to $8 million annually.

“For years, publications like Politico were effectively subsidized by the American people. That ends now,” Leavitt stated.

Leading the charge in this government spending overhaul is Elon Musk, whom Trump appointed as head of the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk wasted no time. Within weeks of Trump’s inauguration on January 20, DOGE launched a sweeping audit of federal expenditures. According to Musk, the agency aims to slash $2 trillion in government waste, starting with media spending.

On his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk doubled down on his criticism of Reuters, calling its funding a “massive social deception.”

“The US government paid Reuters millions of dollars for social manipulation. This is literally what it says on the purchase order!” Musk wrote, exposing Pentagon documents that showed the agency received $9 million between 2018 and 2022 under the label of “cyber defence.”

“It’s a complete fraud,” Musk added. “Time to cut the cord on taxpayer-funded propaganda.”

The budget crackdown isn’t stopping with media subscriptions. On January 25, Secretary of State Marco Rubio followed Trump’s directive by suspending nearly all foreign aid programs for 90 days—including those for Ukraine. This move, based on Trump’s January 21 executive order, signals a major shift in Washington’s spending priorities.

With Musk at the helm of DOGE, government spending is under a microscope, and media organizations that once thrived on federal dollars are now facing an uncertain future.

By Tamilla Hasanova