President Donald Trump sounded off with a vengeance on Thursday, February 13, over a discovery made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) regarding the Pentagon. In fact, DOGE discovered that the Department of Defense was engaged in a massive, wasteful, multi-million dollar contract with Reuters.
Posting about the matter, President Donald Trump slammed the Department of Defense for approving a $9 million contract with Reuters, an outlet so large that it rivals the Associated Press, for no clear reason. Given that Reuters is generally more of a general news outlet, it is unclear why it was studying “social deception” for the Pentagon, or to what degree it did so through its news service.
In his Truth Social post about the matter, Trump slammed the whole program and demanded that Reuters return the obviously wasted money, saying, “DOGE: Looks like Radical Left Reuters was paid $9,000,000 by the Department of Defense to study “large scale social deception.” GIVE BACK THE MONEY, NOW!”
Then, in a second post shortly after that one, the president sounded off on the massive amount of money the government spent on Politico subscriptions, saying, “DOGE: Why was Politico paid Millions of Dollars for NOTHING. Buying the press??? PAY BACK THE MONEY TO THE TAXPAYERS! How much has the Failing New York Times paid? Is this the money that is keeping it open??? THEY ARE BUYING THE PRESS!”
The Trump situation has spoken about the Politico matter more, recently. In a press conference, Trump Administration Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that DOGE had discovered millions paid by the government to Politico and that it would be cutting off that massive amount of funding immediately.
Doing so, the press secretary even poked fun at the Politico personnel in the room, saying, “I was made aware of funding from USAID to Media Outlets…including Politico…who I know has a seat in this room. The $8M you receive ends today. The DOGE Team is cancelling those payments now…” Watch her here:
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Ron Paul, posting about the Politico matter on X, said, “A look behind the curtain has revealed a horrific truth: Nearly the entire mainstream media – worldwide – has been funded by the US government under the USAID. From the BBC to the New York Times and Politico… At this point it might be easier to find out who USAID has NOT funded in the media sphere!”
Posting more generally on Truth Social about the massive amount of fraud found by DOGE, Trump said, “DOGE has found massive amounts of FRAUD, WASTE, INCOMPETENCE, AND ABUSE, but even knowing this, a highly political, activist Judge wants us to immediately make payment, anyway. In other words pay, even though you know the payment was fraudulently requested to be made. DOGE caught them – The Judge just doesn’t care. It doesn’t make sense!!!”
He also said, slamming FEMA, “FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry. It is now under review and investigation. THE BIDEN RUN FEMA HAS BEEN A DISASTER. FEMA SHOULD BE TERMINATED! IT HAS BEEN SLOW AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE. INDIVIDUAL STATES SHOULD HANDLE STORMS, ETC., AS THEY COME. BIG SAVINGS, FAR MORE EFFICIENT!!!”