Trump demands ‘Radical Left Reuters’ return a $9 million government contract. He’s the one who paid it out in the first place
Justin BaragonaThu, February 13, 2025 at 11:27 AM EST
5 min read
Donald Trump is raging about the $9 million that “Radical Left Reuters” received to supposedly study “large scale social deception,” demanding that it immediately “give the money back” even though it was awarded during his first administration and was given to a company that operates seperately from the news agency.
The president’s Thursday morning social media tirade comes hours after DOGE chief Elon Muskpeddled a misleading claim on X (formerly Twitter) that Reuters engaged in a “total scam,” sharing a post that alleged the news organization had been paid millions of dollars from the government for a “social engineering” program.
Musk, who has been tasked by the president to dismantle federal agencies and lay off hundreds of thousands of federal workers while slashing “fraud and waste,” took aim at Reuters on Wednesday night shortly after the outlet reported that the majority of his DOGE spending cuts were based on ideology rather than cost-savings.
The administration’s recent attack on Reuters, meanwhile, comes as Trumpworld has sought to not only blow up large swaths of the federal government but also to thoroughly discredit the mainstream media, which has included spreading conspiracy theories that federal aid was propping up legacy press outlets.
“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!” Trump blared on Truth Social on Thursday morning.
“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 president added in another post. (The payments to Politico and the Times were for subscriptions to the outlets’ paid content for government employees.)
“Reuters was paid millions of dollars by the US government for ‘large scale social deception,’” Musk tweeted the night before. “That is literally what it says on the purchase order! They’re a total scam. Just wow.”
The world’s richest man and Trump’s “first buddy” was reacting to a post by Mario Nawfal, a Musk acolyte and conservative social media influencer. According to Nawfal, the Department of Defense had paid Reuters $9 million for a “social engineering” program – something that was uncovered by Musk’s meme-based government efficiency agency.
“DOGE investigations reveal mysterious Defense Department payments to Reuters for "large scale social deception" project between 2018-2022,” he tweeted, citing a federal spending open data source website and frequent Musk reply guy Ian Miles Cheong. “While DARPA claims it was for cyber defense, questions swirl about why a news agency received millions for ‘social engineering.’ The revelation comes as other media outlets face scrutiny over federal funding.”
Nawfal’s post came shortly after Musk seemed put off by a recent Reuters piece, which was shared on X by Hollywood director Ron Howard. “The first phase of the rapid-fire effort by…Elon Musk and President Donald Trump to cut waste from government agencies appears driven more by an ideological assault on federal agencies long hated by conservatives than a good-faith effort to save taxpayer dollars, according to two veteran Republican budget experts,” Reuters noted.
“I wonder how much money Reuters is getting from the government?” Musk replied to Howard’s tweet. “Let’s find out.”
