Politico Drops Fact-Check on Trump Smack in Middle of New Interview as He Attacks Them

Politico dropped a fact-check of President Donald Trump smack in the middle of their interview transcript after the president lashed out at the publication with a false aside.

Politico White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns dropped a new interview with Trump on Monday morning that was heavily focused on foreign policy, but also covered other topics.

In one exchange, Burns pressed Trump about the potential for military action in Venezuela, and Trump hit back with a crack about the Obama administration keeping Politico “afloat”:

Burns: So how far would you go to … to take Maduro out of office?

Trump: I don’t want to say that. But, uh …

Burns: But you want to see him out?

Trump: His days are numbered.

Burns: Can you rule out an American ground invasion …

Trump: I don’t want to …

Burns: … in Venezuela?

Trump: … rule in or out. I don’t talk about it. Why would I talk to you, an extremely unfriendly publication, if you want to call it POLITICO, that got $8 million from Obama to keep it afloat, why would I do that? Why would I talk about that to POLITICO? I mean, I’m doing this because you picked me as the man for Europe …

Burns: Well, I’m … I’m … I’m asking for …

Trump: … and I thought it was … I thought it was …

Burns: … for … for transparency for the …

Trump: … an appropriate thing to do.

Burns: … American people because a of folks are …

Trump: Transparency?

Burns: Well, people are wondering what is …

Trump: I’ll tell you, I am the most transparent politician maybe in the world, OK?

Burns: A lot of folks are wondering what our goals are in Venezuela.

Trump: Sure, but I don’t want to … I don’t want to talk to you about military strategy.

The transcript of the interview included an editor’s note that read “Editor’s note: Trump appears to be referring to POLITICO Pro subscriptions that the Trump administration canceled earlier this year as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s effort to trim government spending. POLITICO received no government grants or subsidies.”

During the DOGE days of Trump’s second term, Trump and his allies circulated the false claim that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was directly funding Politico.

Watch above via Politico — the full interview is here.

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