Reed: Trump’s Taxpayer-Funded Campaign Ads Show He is Barely Trying to Conceal Corruption & Disrespect for the Rule of Law

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) blasted President Donald Trump for expanding a series of taxpayer-funded, explicitly political advertisements promoting himself. And CNN is reporting that President Trump “has personally driven the controversial, taxpayer-funded video ads promoting himself and his administration’s policies, including helping select the imagery and videos used.” “President Trump is shamelessly forcing U.S. taxpayers to foot the bill for his wasteful, self-aggrandizing television campaign commercials. It is an offensive abuse of power and a waste of taxpayer funds by a President who incorrectly believes he is above the law. Instead of solving problems, Donald Trump is creating them and continues to make things worse. It’s time to put an end to this type of corruption, enforce the law, and get our country moving in a better direction,” said Reed. Reed notes that the Trump White House is so blatantly violating ethical boundaries and laws that it is barely trying to conceal the fact that it is recycling a 2024 Trump Presidential campaign ad that the White House is now running as a government-funded, so-called “public service announcement” ahead of the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. The repurposed ad shows President Trump – who launched a war with Iran without the consent of Congress or the American people -- walking down a hallway as he asks people to join him in his fight to “expel the warmongers from our government.” It is nearly identical to an ad put out by Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, except now the ad cuts off the last few seconds of the original. Instead of fine print that says it was “Paid for by Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc.” the 2026 ad says at the bottom: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” Reed, who serves as the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG), sent a letter last week to White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles demanding the Trump Administration immediately stop airing a different taxpayer-funded political ad self-promoting President Trump and report to the Appropriations Committee exactly how many taxpayer dollars were spent creating and airing the illegal political propaganda . A public service announcement (PSA) seeks to inform citizens about how to access, benefit from, or understand government programs. Noting that Trump’s repurposed political campaign ads make no attempt to try to educate the public about a specific government action and instead are focused solely on promoting Donald Trump, Senator Reed stated: “Donald Trump’s campaign has plenty of money to run this type of purely partisan, political propaganda. This Administration is flaunting corruption and flouting the law. It seems the real message of these ads is President Trump attempting to show that he is above the law and his Department of Justice and this Republican Congress will allow him to do whatever he wants with no accountability. “We need an independent investigation into this mess and I am calling on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to launch one. “This is not a one off, it is part of a broader pattern by the Trump Administration blatantly and wrongfully misusing public funding for the self-aggrandizement of individuals like Donald Trump, Kristi Noem, and others. “At the same time President Trump is starting reckless wars, raising prices through his tariff taxes, taking away people’s health care, driving up inflation, and increasing the financial strain on working Americans, he’s also forcing them to pay for ads to feed his own ego. Donald Trump’s shooting wars, trade wars, and culture wars are failing and the American people know we need real change and better leaders who will join Democrats to lower prices and end these wars,” said Reed. According to NBC News : “AdImpact, a political ad tracking firm, has estimated that the administration has spent more than $1.7 million to run these ads, which have been running heavily in recent days during prominent television programming like football games, Sunday morning news shows, and prime time broadcast shows.”