▶ Watch Video: How pro-Trump ads were funded with taxpayer dollars
Washington — President Trump said Monday he will start paying for the pro-Trump ads that have blanketed the airwaves in recent weeks with money raised by his super PAC, after his administration drew intense pushback for using public funds on the ads.
“The Radical Left is upset with the fact that I am taking Ads, which I consider to be a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A., and paying for them with U.S.A. money,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “This is a rather standard thing to do but, rather than doing that, although nothing will make them happy, I have decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.”
A White House official said Tuesday morning that the president’s post was not referring to reimbursing the federal government for ads that have already been purchased. Mr. Trump said Tuesday that “the ads were really good” when asked about the change and whether he would reimburse the government.
“They were promotion for the country,” Mr. Trump said. “Done by many presidents before. So we’ll decide.”
Emblazoned with the message “Paid for by the U.S. Government,” the ads began popping up late last month on national cable and broadcast networks, including CBS, as the November midterm elections approach.
Several variations have aired, including one that features a recording of Mr. Trump saying, “We will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America,” as photos of the president flash across the screen. Another recounts the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
CBS News reported last month that there are multiple versions of the ads. The U.S. government produced the content and paid for the airtime through an ad agency.
The Department of Homeland Security awarded LMD Agency $20 million for a “National Media Campaign” starting on Sept. 20, contracting records show. A day earlier, the White House Office of Management and Budget granted DHS’s Customs and Border Protection $20 million for “OBBB Commemorative Events,” according to a nongovernment database. The source of the funds was first reported by The Washington Sun.
The White House has defended the ads, calling them public service announcements and denying that they constitute campaign advertisements.
A White House official said last month the PSAs “are clearly not political,” and noted: “The President is not on the ballot and the ads don’t have a call to action.”
Asked about the anti-communism ad, a spokesperson for the White House said: “The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country.”
The advertising campaign has drawn bipartisan criticism. Democrats have argued the ads could violate federal laws that bar the use of government funds for “propaganda” purposes and limit political activity by executive branch employees.
“This is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America, and it is an egregious and illegal misuse of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars,” a group of Senate Democrats said in a letter last month.
A handful of Republicans have also voiced criticism.
“I don’t think any public official, including President Trump or [former DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves,” GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said on “Face the Nation.”
By using his own super PAC to pay for the ads, Mr. Trump is tapping a nine-figure war chest that many Republican candidates hope will be spent in battleground states ahead of the midterms — despite a late start in this election cycle.
Since last month, the group has reported tens of millions of dollars in spending on the Texas Senate contest, where Trump-allied Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton is in a tight race against Democratic state lawmaker James Talarico.
The group had more than $400 million on hand at the end of August, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Mr. Trump said last month he is “going to spend whatever amount of money necessary to try and help us.”
