Politico’s new owner criticized after leaked email from 2020 showed his alleged support of Trump

The German owner of news site Politico has been criticized on Twitter after it was alleged he wrote an email praising Donald Trump while “praying” that he gets re-elected in 2024.

Dopfner, who is a billionaire businessman from Germany and also the CEO and part-owner of Axel Springer, bought Politico in October of 2021. 

In an email obtained by The Washington Post, Dopfner allegedly said that “no American administration in the last 50 years has done more” than Trump’s, leading some media figures to raise concerns about any possible influence he may over what Politico publish.

“So, Politico is owned by a lying Trump supporter in Germany? How should/can readers factor that into what they read in Politico?” tweeted MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell.

Press Watch Editor Dan Froomkin tweeted: “When the media spectrum spans from truth-denying to truth-embracing, what the heck does “contrarian” even mean? Truth-ignoring?”

The email from The Washington Post reportedly said, “Do we all want to get together for an hour in the morning on November 3 and pray that Donald Trump will again become President of the United States of America?” 

When Dopfner was initially asked about the email, he dubbed it as “intrinsically false,” however when presented with a copy of the email, Dopfner walked back and said that he possibly said it “as an ironic, provocative statement in the circle of people that hate Donald Trump.”

Dopfner did direct some criticism towards Trump in an interview with The Washington Post, stating that Trump fell “short” of tackling climate change. He went on to say that he has never thought of himself as a Trump supporter.

In an opinion piece for Business Insider, Dopfner hit out at the events on January 6, 2021, where Capitol rioters entered the building wearing Trump paraphernalia.

“By refusing to accept the election results, by speaking of fraud and by dangerously inciting his followers to violence, Trump is merely confirming what his sharpest and most fundamental critics have said about him all along,” he wrote. “Removed from reality by his narcissism, he is unable to come to terms with his defeat, and thus also unable to cope with his democratic rivals.”