I didn't post the meme about Politico missing payroll because of (allegedly) not getting USAID payments, because it smelled fishy. Correct call this time. Politico offers a premium subscription service similar to LexisNexis that many government agencies subscribe to which accounts for the payments since 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qDHZ3gFbdw

Someone will undoubtedly call this a kickback, which is possible, but they weren't just getting free money for their shit reporting.