Donald Trump played an active role in creating the taxpayer-funded ads pushed by the White House that have been accused of amounting to propaganda, according to a report.
The 80-year-old president oversaw the production of the fawning ads, including helping select the imagery and accompanying video used, a source told CNN.
The ads, which have aired on primetime television and include disclaimers saying they were “paid for by the U.S. government,” were also created in-house by the White House’s own video team, raising the prospect that the government employees who worked on them may have broken the law.
Multiple members of Trump’s team were kept in the dark about the ads and were not aware of their existence until they aired, CNN reported. However, another source said Trump eagerly talked about the ads with his aides and advisers and insisted the controversial videos were not made in secret.
The taxpayer-funded ads praising Trump are being aired in the crucial run-up to the Nov. 3 midterms, when the GOP is widely predicted to suffer an electoral wipeout.
They include a bizarre ad in which the words “love me” from JMSN’s song “Love Me” are repeated over MAGA-esque patriotic imagery of flags and Trump, while the president expresses anti-communist sentiments and hypes his policies.
Another video features Trump’s voice over imagery of Mount Rushmore, with lines such as, “Never before has any nation celebrated so magnificent a triumph as this one.”
The White House has defended spending taxpayer money to create the ads. A spokesperson previously told the Daily Beast they are “public service announcements” akin to what previous presidents put out on issues such as COVID vaccinations or Medicare, rather than political campaign ads.
However, one of the ads—a black-and-white video of Trump walking down a corridor and describing a “final battle” against “villains” in the U.S.—is almost identical to a campaign ad released by Trump during his 2024 White House run. The key difference is that American taxpayers are now funding it.
The ads, which are estimated to have cost at least $1.7 million, according to ABC News, have even faced intense pushback from Republican lawmakers.
“I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Monday.
Outgoing North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis told NBC News: “I hate it. I tell you, it feels like Viktor Orbán talking to the Hungarian people. There’s no place for that sort of thing.”
Richard Painter, a former White House ethics czar under President George W. Bush, told The Associated Press: “You watch all three ads, they’re sheer propaganda. This is increasingly looking like what authoritarian governments do to promote their leaders.”
Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, also suggested that the ads violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from engaging in certain political activity in their official capacity.
“This may be felony criminal theft and conversion of government property for political campaign purposes,” Raskin posted on X while sharing Trump’s “love me” ad.
“It is blatantly unethical under numerous federal ethics provisions proscribing the use of government resources for political campaigns.”
One former Trump campaign official told CNN that creating the ads is “dumb, dumb, dumb beyond belief.”
“These guys are all gonna get subpoenaed. It’s gonna be bad,” they added.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
