Trump orders Doge to retrieve $8 mn allegedly given to ‘radical left’ Politico magazine

US President Donald Trump on Thursday (March 27) ordered the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) to retrieve $8,000,000 dished out to Politico magazine under the administration of former president Joe Biden.

Taking to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “Whatever happened to the $8,000,000 given by our ‘government’ to Radical Left Politico magazine, or whatever you would call it. Owned by wealthy guys, this money should be taken back by DOGE, ASAP.”

In his post, Trump also asked Doge to recover $2 billion allegedly granted to a climate group linked to former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

“Also, is Stacey Abrams going to give back the Two Billion Dollars they funneled into her “environmental fund” just prior to my assuming office. She went from $100 in donations to $2,000,000,000 in just one day? Not bad!!! Get back the money,” Trump wrote.

Alleged funding to Politico

The US administration in February claimed that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had funded several media outlets like Politico. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I was made aware that USAID has funded media outlets like Politico who I know has a seat in this room. I can confirm that more than $8M taxpayers’ dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions on the American taxpayers’ dime will no longer be happening. The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now.”

In response, Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and editor-in-chief John Harris rubbished these claims, insisting that the outlet “has never been a beneficiary of government programs or subsidies—not one cent, ever, in 18 years.”

Politico’s leadership stated that the government’s millions in subscription spending were for Politico Pro, a service that offers “both private and public sector clients with granular, fact-based reporting, real-time intelligence, and tracking tools across key policy areas.”

EPA’s claims regarding $2 bn grant to Power Forward Communities

Similarly, later that month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claimed that the Biden administration had granted a $2 billion fund to Power Forward Communities, a nonprofit tied to Stacey Abrams.

According to the EPA, the fund sought to “reduce our impact on the climate” by financing the replacement of household appliances in lower-income communities with green alternatives.

Fox News reported, citing a post from LinkedIn, that Abrams “played a pivotal role” in establishing the group.

The Trump administration is vigorously pushing to shut down the USAID, although such efforts are facing some resistance from the judiciary.

Billionaire and an advisor to Trump, Elon Musk, is reportedly leading the effort to boost government efficiency. His approach, inspired by the aggressive cost-cutting strategies he used at Twitter and other companies, has sparked both praise and criticism for its speed and minimal input from foreign policy experts.