President Trump amplified unfounded claims on Thursday that the government had been paying news media outlets to generate positive coverage of Democrats.

The conspiracy theories appear to have been generated by records showing payments for something much more innocuous: subscriptions.

Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social site that “billions of dollars” from U.S.A.I.D. and other agencies had improperly gone to the “fake news media.” He spread a claim that Politico, a “left wing rag,” had received $8 million, and questioned if The New York Times and other outlets had also received payments.

Users on X this week tried to make a connection between a payroll issue reported at Politico and the administration’s dismantling of U.S.A.I.D., the foreign aid agency. Some users began sharing screenshots that appeared to show federal payments to Politico.

Records on USAspending.gov, a federal site that tracks government payments, show that federal agencies have paid Politico for subscriptions, including to its Politico Pro service. The money allocated to Politico across all agencies was more than $8 million in the 2024 fiscal year, records show. Politico Pro offers policy-related resources and tracks news and legislation, and has more than 30,000 subscribers, according to a Politico overview.

U.S.A.I.D. paid $44,000 to Politico during the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, according to the spending records, which described the two contracts as for “E&E news subscriptions.” E&E News covers energy and environmental issues.

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