Trump Administration Cancels Media Contracts with General Services Administration
The Trump administration on Thursday ordered the General Services Administration (GSA) to "cancel every single media contract" by the end of the day.
The email follows shocking findings from DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, regarding legacy media outlets taking in millions from the federal government through mass subscription contracts. For instance, the federal government paid over $8 million to Politico last year for the outlet's Politico Pro service.
"GSA team, please do two things," the email, first obtained by Axios, stated. "Pull all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E (Politico sub) and Bloomberg. Pull all media contracts for just GSA - cancel every single media contract today for GSA only."
While it remains unclear how many subscriptions GSA was paying for, the agency, which manages federal property and technology services, employs about 12,000 individuals.
Furthermore, an X account for DOGE posted Wednesday that "Treasury leadership verified that their NYT (New York Times) contracts were cancelled today."
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that payments for Politico Pro subscriptions are being canceled across multiple agencies.
This controversy was sparked when DOGE highlighted waste from USAID, which has an annual budget of approximately $40 billion and around 13,000 employees. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that the initial goal was to reform USAID but faced substantial resistance, prompting the need for drastic action.
The White House has released a preliminary list of wasteful projects funded by USAID, which includes significant taxpayer dollars directed towards research at the Wuhan lab, funding a non-profit linked to terror groups, $2 million for LGBT activism in Guatemala, and $1.5 million to promote DEI in Serbia.
