In an abrupt reversal, President Donald Trump backed down from his plan to push nationwide, politically charged “public service announcements” at taxpayer expense — and said they would instead be funded through his super PAC.
“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,” said Trump on his Truth Social platform. “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. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
This comes after extensive reporting that the Trump administration quietly diverted money from Customs and Border Protection’s budget to pay for one controversial spot, which proclaimed America “will never be a communist country.” Democrats and Republicans alike forcibly pushed back on the ads, with some Republicans refusing to defend them.
“Pres. Trump just announced he’s standing down on the controversial, taxpayer-funded PSAs, and will pay for them via MAGA, Inc. instead,” wrote CNN’s Betsy Klein in reaction to the news. “We reported Friday that > $5.6M in taxpayer money, which came from Customs and Border Protection, had already been spent.”
It’s still unclear whether Trump’s new plan is entirely legal, since his proclamation seems to suggest some level of campaign coordination with his own super PAC, which by law is meant to operate independently.
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