Phil Mickelson questions claims of USAID funding '6,200 REGIME FRIENDLY journalists'

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) reportedly funded 6,200 journalists, 707 independent news media organisations, and 279 media-focused civil society groups across 30 countries in 2023. The details on a USAID fact sheet, which is now offline, were shared on X by WikiLeaks. LIV Golf’s Phil Mickelson has since taken a jibe at the numbers, questioning its legitimacy.

USAID’s website has been offline since Saturday as US President Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending foreign aid for 90 days. Notably, American political activist and author Charlie Kirk reposted the reported info of USAID’s foreign media funding. He called the journalists being funded by the agency ‘REGIME FRIENDLY.’ Following this, Mickelson asked about the accuracy of the numbers presented and opined that they ‘seem a bit low.’

The $300M-worth LIV Golfer’s comment came as part of two tweets taking jibes at the reported funding of the US government agency.

Political activist and author Charlie Kirk wrote on X:

“USAID funded 6,200 REGIME FRIENDLY journalists all over the world including 90% of the reporting out of Ukraine. Imagine how much the lens through which Americans perceive the world will transform simply by starving the propaganda machine propped up by our own taxpayer dollars.”

Phil Mickelson replied:

“How accurate are these numbers? They seem a bit low.”

It is pertinent to note that the reports also mentioned that the 2025 foreign aid budget had included $268.3 million earmarked by Congress to support the free flow of information. However, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has since reported that these funds are now caught in the aid freeze by the Trump administration.

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Phil Mickelson takes a jibe at USAID’s reported $20M funding of Sesame Street show in Iraq

Apart from the reported claims of the USAID funding journalists, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in her White House press conference on Thursday, also claimed that the agency was spending $20 million on a new Sesame Street show in Iraq. Phil Mickelson also took a dig at this by stating that the show “production costs were under 500k” but insurance for “shooting on site” required the rest of the budget.

Phil Mickelson wrote on X:

“I would just like to say Sesame Street is an excellent show, Iraqis deserve to have it and although production costs were under 500k, shooting on site required 19.5 mil to insure.”

Mickelson's comment garnered a mixed reaction as several fans joked about it but some others didn’t take it well. The six-time major champion went on to write he was curious to find how many people thought he was being serious with the remark. He replied to himself with “turns out a few” along with a couple of laugh emojis.