A total of $20 million has been allocated for the Trump’s advertising effort, two sources said.
The Trump administration has produced at least 13 campaign-style advertisements as part of a multimillion-dollar effort funded by US taxpayers to promote President Donald Trump and his policies ahead of midterm votings. CNN obtained clips of 12 ads, ranging from 15 seconds to three minutes.
Each video ends with the words “Paid for by the US Government”. Other footage includes Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs, the US-Mexico border wall, his 2015 presidential campaign launch and a framed image depicting former President Joe Biden’s autopen signature on Trump’s “Presidential Walk of Fame”. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a post on X that the ads “may be felony criminal theft and conversion of government property for political campaign purposes. It’s just not, you know, it’s not how we should be spending taxpayer dollars,” said Sen.
The spending has drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, who have questioned whether taxpayer money should be used for such advertising. The White House has defended the campaign by describing the videos as public service announcements. Two of those had already been broadcast. The clips were stored in a Dropbox account run by LMD, the agency awarded the government contract for the advertising campaign, and were shared with CNN. First lady Melania Trump appears in several of the advertisements. Democratic Rep. If Democrats take control of the House next year, Raskin would gain congressional subpoena power. The campaign has also attracted criticism from Republicans. “Look, if you want to spend money out of your super PAC or other campaign account to communicate that message, that’s fine. It’s not an appropriate PSA. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.