Donald Trump Says His Political Entity Will Now Pay For TV Ads Rather Than Taxpayers

Donald Trump said that his super PAC MAGA Inc. would now pay for advertisements that the White House has run at taxpayer expense, stirring an outcry among Democrats and some Republicans.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday, “The Radical Left is upset with the fact that I am taking Ads, which I consider to be a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A., and paying for them with U.S.A. money. This is a rather standard thing to do but, rather than doing that, although nothing will make them happy, I have decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.”

The White House has deemed the spots to public service announcements, comparing them to government-funded ads that promoted vaccines under President Joe Biden and the Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama.

But the Trump spots feature himself and promote his presidency. One of the ads is almost identical to a spot that Trump posted on social media, promoting his presidential campaign. More than $10 million has been spent on the series of ads, per CNN, citing estimates from analysis firm AdImpact.

The ads prominently featured a line, “Paid for by the U.S. government,” airing during football games and during news programming, among other dayparts. The group Public Citizen filed an FCC complaint, arguing that broadcasters could be held liable for an illegal use of government funds. But FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said last week that he didn’t see anything “out of the ordinary” in the airing of the spots, calling them a “normal PSA.”