President Donald Trump said on Oct. 5 that he and his MAGA Inc. political action committee would pay for promotional ads run by the White House that had initially been funded by taxpayer money.
“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.
“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,” he said in a Truth Social post.
The administration has released three government-funded ads featuring Trump since late September, which the White House said were intended to be public service announcements.
On Oct. 1, Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and George Whitesides (D-Calif.) called for a formal investigation into the Trump administration’s ads featuring the president ahead of the midterm elections.
They asked the Government Accountability Office to identify the source of funding for the ads and determine how much taxpayer funds were used to produce and air them. The lawmakers also sought to determine whether the ads’ production broke any federal laws.
“These ads constitute an illegal use of taxpayer funds, perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that they are virtually identical to the ones Donald Trump used during his 2024 presidential campaign, and in fact use the same footage and the same inept ideological messaging,” they wrote in a Sept. 30 letter to the office.
The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The first ad featured clips of Trump talking about defeating communism interspersed with on-screen text promoting the tax cuts and American manufacturing and a call to “defend law and order and police.”
The second ad featured scenic footage of Mount Rushmore interspersed with clips from Trump’s Fourth of July speech there, in which he honored America’s 250th anniversary. The third showed Trump walking down a hallway while audio of him warning of a “final battle” against globalists played in the background. It aired during NFL games.
All three ads carried the disclaimer: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”
The White House has previously said they were not campaign ads, noting that Trump was not on the ballot for the November election.
“These public service announcements are unapologetically American, clearly disclosed, and aimed at the country — not a line on the ballot,” it said in a Sept. 25 statement.
The White House also cited examples of past administrations from both parties using ads to explain their policies and promote their visions for the nation.
It is unclear how much the ads cost in total or how much the president intends to pay.
According to AdImpact, which tracks media spending, the spots had cost at least $1.4 million by the end of September.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
