A new ad flashes images of President Trump set to a striking soundtrack: A song titled “Love Me.” Even more striking may be the disclaimer: “Paid for by the U.S. government.”
The commercial debuted this week on right-wing news outlets, according to the media tracking service AdImpact. Mr. Trump has urged Republicans to vote in the November midterms as if he were on the ballot, trying to draw voters who typically turn out only for presidential elections to the polls. He asked Republicans at a midterm convention in Dallas this month to join him in a loyalty oath to himself.
“America will never be a communist country,” Mr. Trump says in the short spot, which aired Wednesday on Fox News in at least some cable television markets, including Miami. The ad, which also trumpets Trump policies, appears to have aired on the right-wing outlet Newsmax as well.
The White House said in a statement on Thursday afternoon that the ads, which do not tell viewers to vote or take any other action, were “public service announcements.”
“The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic,” the statement said.
A shorter version of the video was posted to the White House’s official YouTube site 11 days ago.
Senator Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire, sent a letter earlier Thursday demanding that the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, divulge who produced the commercial.
“The advertisement raises deep concerns about the Trump Administration’s use of taxpayer dollars and its compliance with federal laws that prohibit the use of appropriated funds for the promotion of a political party or candidate,” Ms. Hassan wrote in the letter addressed to Ms. Wiles, which was provided to The New York Times.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said that if the White House used government dollars to pay for the ad, it could constitute a violation of federal law. “It is blatantly unethical,” he wrote on X.
Kristi Noem, Mr. Trump’s former homeland security secretary, was fired in March after members of Congress scrutinized a taxpayer-funded ad campaign related to immigration enforcement actions that cost more than $220 million.
Presidents are exempt from the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activities for most other executive branch employees. Still, the ad could violate government restrictions against using taxpayer dollars for propaganda, said Norm Eisen, a former White House special counsel for ethics and government reform.
“Congress has established governmentwide restrictions on the use of appropriated funds for publicity or propaganda through annual appropriations bills,” said Mr. Eisen, who has sued the Trump administration on several fronts as co-founder of Democracy Defenders Action. “This commercial is a shocking transgression of those legal provisions.”
In his second term, Mr. Trump has been emboldened to push the legal limits of the presidency, in part because of the Supreme Court ruling that presidents enjoy broad criminal immunity for official acts taken while in office.
The president’s high-powered super PAC, MAGA Inc., has been funding other ads for political campaigns across the country.
The last line in the new ad appears to be delivered by Dana White, the president and chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It proclaims that Mr. Trump is “the toughest, most resilient person that I’ve ever met, and nothing was going to stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves.”
Mr. White appears to have said that at least once, at a Trump rally last year the day before the president’s inauguration.
In a statement, JMSN, the R&B artist who wrote and recorded “Love Me,” said he “did not authorize the use” of the song.
“I am looking for a lawyer now in order to see what our options are and how to proceed,” the emailed statement said. “I have never been in this situation before, so need help in navigating something of this magnitude.”
Shane Goldmacher contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett contributed research.
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