There's a very blurry line between Politico's financial relationship with the largest weapons firm in the United States, Lockheed Martin, and its editorial output. And that line may have just become even more opaque.
Last week, Responsible Statecraft's Ethan Paul reported that Politico was scrubbing its archives of any reference to Lockheed Martin's longtime sponsorship of the publication's popular newsletter, Morning Defense. While evidence of Lockheed's financial relationship with Politico was erased, the popular beltway outlet just published a remarkable puff piece about the company, with no acknowledgement of the longstanding financial relationship with Politico.

Politico didn't respond to questions about whether Lockheed was an ongoing sponsor of the publication after last month when it scrubbed the defense giant's ads or whether the weapons firm paid for what read largely-like an advertorial.

Politico's Lee Hudson visited Lockheed's highly secure, and mostly classified, Skunk Works research and development facility north of Los Angeles and glowingly wrote, "For defense tech journalists and aviation nerds, this is the equivalent of a Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka's factory, but think supersonic drones instead of Everlasting Gobstoppers."

Hudson did not elaborate on how a candy-filled wonderland is in any way similar to a facility that designs machines meant to kill people. 

So what did she see at this largely closed doors facility and why did she visit?