The White House has no plans to repay taxpayers for the Donald Trump ads that have already aired, and the president released another one on Tuesday. The spots have run in the weeks before the November midterms.
Donald Trump has not committed to reimbursing the government for taxpayer money already spent on the ads
On Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he and his allied super PAC, MAGA Inc., would take over the cost of the commercials. By Tuesday, White House officials were telling Politico that the pledge looked forward only. It did not cover the ads viewers have already seen. The president called government-funded messaging “a rather standard thing to do.”
A White House official put the new arrangement this way: “MAGA Inc. will pay for the PSA ads moving forward.” Neither the White House nor the PAC has said whether anyone will pay back the money already spent. Nor has the White House said whether it will keep airing spots with what remains of the contract.
Ad-tracking firm AdImpact puts the spending at roughly $11.6 million across more than a dozen ads. Reports link the money to a $20 million Department of Homeland Security contract, which public records show went to Maryland’s LMD Agency for a “national media campaign.” NBC News reported last week that some of the money was meant for US Customs and Border Protection. The outlet claimed senior leaders at the agency had no say in the decision.
Tuesday’s one-minute ad focuses on the U.S. operation that removed Venezuela’s former leader, Nicolás Maduro. Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appear in the spot. Lawmakers from both parties have criticized the ads as political messaging funded by taxpayers. Legal experts have also questioned whether the spending violates federal law.
The White House has pointed to precedent. It cited the Bush administration’s 2003-2004 television push on its Medicare law, the Obama administration’s advertising for the Affordable Care Act, and the Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccine promotion. Trump defended the ads to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday. “The ads were really good. They were promotion for the country,” he said. “Done by many presidents before, so we’ll decide.”
