Trump Says MAGA Inc. Will Pay for the Taxpayer-Funded TV Ads That Praised Him
The reversal came Monday night after backlash from Democrats and some Republicans over roughly $9.7 million in federal money spent on three ads featuring the president. He also urged his own voters to cast ballots by mail.
President Donald Trump said Monday evening that he and his super PAC, MAGA Inc., will pay for a series of television ads praising him that had been funded with taxpayer money, reversing course after an outcry from Democrats and some Republicans less than a month before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
The ads, three spots featuring Trump himself, were reportedly paid for from as much as $20 million that the Department of Homeland Security had set aside. The ad-tracking firm AdImpact counted roughly $9.7 million spent to air the three ads through Oct. 5, according to CNBC. Critics said the spots were campaign material dressed up as government messaging, aimed at voters in the weeks before they choose a new House and a third of the Senate.
The president's announcement shifts the bill for future airings to his political operation. It does not address the money already spent. Democrats have called for scrutiny of how the funds were identified and approved, and the ads drew criticism from some Republicans as well, who worried about the optics of federal dollars promoting the president ahead of an election in which the party is defending its majorities.
The decision follows reporting by The New York Times that Trump told Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to find $20 million for television ads featuring him. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found Americans deeply skeptical of taxpayer-funded election ads, a finding that gave the backlash political weight beyond the Washington argument over spending law.
ABC News reported when the first ads aired that they had sparked backlash, with critics questioning whether federal appropriations can legally be used for spots that praise an incumbent president. Federal law restricts the use of appropriated funds for what is known as covert propaganda and for lobbying, and the line between public-information campaigns and political promotion is one that watchdogs and courts have long argued over.
The ad fight is not the only place Trump has shifted ground on how Americans vote. In a video the White House released Saturday, he told supporters: "Vote early. Vote by mail. Or vote in person on Election Day." That is a change from the years since his 2020 loss, when he repeatedly called mail-in voting inherently corrupt and open to fraud, a claim election officials and courts have rejected. Republican strategists have increasingly urged their voters to bank ballots early, and the president's message follows that advice.
Neither the White House nor MAGA Inc. has said how much the super PAC will spend or whether the existing ads will keep running unchanged. Super PACs can raise unlimited sums from donors, which means the ads will now be financed by the kind of money the campaign finance system openly allows, not by the Treasury. Supporters of the president say that is the proper fix. Critics say it concedes the point that the ads were political from the start.
With about four weeks left until Election Day, the dispute lands in a campaign already crowded with fights over mail ballots, immigration enforcement and the economy. The reversal removes one line of attack for Republicans on the ballot, though Democrats are expected to keep pressing for answers on how the $20 million was found and who signed off on it.
