Claims about Politico, ‘DEI musical’ and USAID spending distort the facts

Republicans calling to slash government spending have scrutinized the U.S. Agency for International Development’s programs and questioned the need for some of its spending. 

President Donald Trump’s administration has pointed to a range of programs as emblematic of the federal agency’s waste, from Politico subscriptions to antidisinformation campaigns and diversity-based theatre productions.

Americans want their tax dollars "going to good uses, not stuff like this," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Feb. 5 press conference, after reading aloud a list of USAID grants.

But not all of the programs Leavitt referred to in recent days were USAID-funded. And not all of them are being described accurately by the White House and social media commentators. 

USAID is the U.S. government’s international humanitarian and development arm, created by Congress under President John F. Kennedy. Its programs have aimed to address disease and hunger, and promote democracy around the world. 

Elon Musk, billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and a close Trump ally, has been working to shut down the agency through the Department of Government Efficiency, called DOGE, a nongovernmental group he’s leading. Nearly all USAID’s spending has been frozen and most employees have been placed on administrative leave. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now the agency’s acting director. 

In a Feb. 5 interview with PBS News Hour, Andrew Natsios, former USAID administrator under President George W. Bush, said it’s not unusual for a new administration to change the aid agency’s direction. But the headline-grabbing programs were not emblematic of USAID’s overall work, he said. 

"AID is one of the great powers, humanitarian powers in the world for the United States to protect the American people and our national interests and to protect the people in the developing world from disease, from hunger, and to advocate and to change policies to encourage economic growth and investment," he said. 

We looked into several of the programs USAID’s detractors have called wasteful spending. We found that some of the claims misrepresent the facts about funding sources and the projects’ scopes. 

A screenshot of a U.S. government website showing that the political news outlet Politico received $8.1 million in government contracts circulated Feb. 5 on X. Many sharing the post said USAID was funding Politico. 

"So let me get this straight … USAID has been spending millions of taxpayer dollars every year funding not only the BBC, but also Politico?" conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, who runs the group Turning Point USA, said in an X post, resharing the screenshot. 

USAID did not give millions of taxpayer dollars to Politico. The spending came from agencies across the federal government for subscriptions to Politico Pro, according to USA Spending, the database that tracks government grants and contracts. 

Politico Pro is Politico’s news subscription service aimed primarily at businesses. It provides news, analysis and legislative tools for researchers, policymakers and lobbyists, and subscriptions can cost thousands of dollars. 

In 2024, USAID paid $24,000 to Politico for one subscription to E&E News, a Politico subsidiary. The agency also bought an E&E News subscription in 2023, for $20,000. 

In an email to PolitiFact, Turning Point USA Spokesperson Andrew Kolvet said Kirk was referring to the top-line figure of $8 million in taxpayer dollars going to Politico. Kolvet acknowledged the amount coming from USAID was smaller, but questioned its necessity. 

"It may seem small given the overall size and scope of the federal deficit, but it’s emblematic of an overall problem with spending in Washington, DC.," Kolvet wrote. 

The $8.1 million figure circulating on social media represented the amount Politico received in all federal contracts in the last 12 months, according to USA Spending. Since 2015, when Politico got its first government contracts, Politico has received at least $30 million for subscriptions across the federal government for its Pro service, according to USA Spending. 

In an email newsletter Feb. 6, Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and Editor-in-Chief John Harris explained that some government officials use Politico Pro, but they rebutted claims Politico received government subsidies or grants.

"Government agencies that subscribe do so through standard public procurement processes — just like any other tool they buy to work smarter and be more efficient," Sheikholeslami and Harris said. "This is not funding. It is a transaction — just as the government buys research, equipment, software, and industry reports."

Elon Musk speaks Jan. 20, 2025, at an indoor Inauguration Day parade event in Washington, D.C. (AP)

Leavitt named several initiatives from President Joe Biden’s administration that focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, and LGBTQ+ issues. Leavitt said USAID had given "$2 million for sex changes in Guatemala."

In 2024, USAID gave a $2 million grant to Asociación LAMBDA in Guatemala, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights. The grant was "to deliver gender-affirming health care, advocate for improved quality and access to services, and provide economic empowerment opportunities." We reached out to Asociación LAMBDA to ask what services the grant funded, but we did not hear back.

Speaking with reporters Feb. 3, Leavitt said USAID gave a grant for "production of a DEI musical in Ireland." That grant came from the State Department, not USAID. 

According to USA Spending, the State Department paid $70,000 in 2022 to Ceiliuradh Company Limited by Guarantee "to promote the U.S. and Irish shared values of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility." 

The grant funded a 2022 music festival (not a musical) in 2022 at the U.S. embassy in Ireland, according to Irish news site Gript. The event featured performances from Irish musicians.

Another grant Leavitt highlighted sent $1.5 million to Grupa Izadi, a Serbian LGBTQ+ rights group. According to USA Spending, the 2022 grant from USAID was aimed at promoting workplace diversity in Serbia for LGBTQ+ people and reducing workplace discrimination. 

Leavitt also mentioned $47,000 of USAID funding for a "transgender opera in Colombia," but she got several details wrong. The grant included $25,000 of federal spending, and it came from the State Department, not USAID. The money was awarded to Universidad De Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, as part of a public diplomacy program which aims to "advance national interests, and enhance national security by informing and influencing foreign publics," and by strengthening the relationship between the United States and the world. 

The money went toward a 2022 production of "As One," a coming-of-age story and opera about a transgender woman. 

The "$32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru" Leavitt mentioned was also not a part of USAID funding. The money was awarded to the Fulbright Program in Peru. Fulbright is an international educational exchange program sponsored by the State Department "designed to increase mutual understanding" between the U.S. and other countries.

The award was "to cover expenses to produce a tailored-made comic, featuring an LGBTQ+ hero to address social and mental health issues." It does not specifically mention a transgender character.

Leavitt highlighted USAID spending on "$20 million on a new ‘Sesame Street’ show in Iraq" and "$4.5 million to combat disinformation in Kazakhstan." 

The first program was a 2021 grant to Sesame Workshop, the company that makes "Sesame Street" and international versions of the children’s educational show. USAID has funded Sesame Workshop productions in several countries. 

The grant helped fund "Ahlan Simsim Iraq," an Arab-language version of "Sesame Street." 

An archived webpage describing the grant said it aimed to bring stability to Iraqi children after years of conflict with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and "to promote inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding across ethnic, religious, and sectarian groups."

The webpage says the USAID funding for the program was $20 million, but the grant description on USA Spending shows $13 million was authorized for the project. 

The second program Leavitt described was a 2023 $4.5 million grant from USAID to Internews Network, an international media nonprofit, to advance "integrity and information accountability in the information space."

Trump’s first administration gave a $15 million grant to the same agency in 2018 for work in Kazakhstan to "develop a more balanced information environment in Central Asia." 

A July 2019 speech by Trump’s then-USAID administrator, Mark Green, highlighted efforts the agency funded to combat Russian disinformation in Georgia, Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere.

It’s been a longstanding USAID goal to fund local media in eastern Europe and central Asia to counter Russian disinformation, according to archived agency pages under both Trump and President Barack Obama. Sarah Mendelson, who served as a deputy administrator for USAID under Obama, said reducing foreign aid makes it easier for Russia and China to exert influence in the region. 

"There’s no question that efforts around the world, including here, to identify disinformation are in our national security interests," Mendelson said. "To the extent the U.S. just backs away, the Kazakhs are being played between Russia and China." 

PolitiFact Staff Writer Grace Abels contributed to this report.