President Donald Trump will no longer fund his own political ads with taxpayer money, instead his super PAC will pay for them.
In a post to Truth Social, the president said that, even though he believes the ads are “a rather standard thing to do,” he will pay for them through his super PAC, MAGA, Inc.
“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,” the president wrote.
He added: “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.”
More than $10 million in taxpayer-funded ads have run since September, according to AdImpact, the ad-tracking service. Trump paid for the ads with funds from the Department of Homeland Security through a $20 million contract.
The ads first aired on Fox News last week and amid a number of NFL and college football games. There were four different ads and each featured a disclaimer, stating, “Paid for by the U.S. government.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle criticized the ads, citing them as a possible violation of federal laws for using taxpayer funds for “publicity or propaganda purposes.”
“That the Trump administration not only failed to acknowledge and investigate last week’s illegal ad, but instead doubled down and released a second piece of taxpayer-funded political propaganda during the mass-viewing moment of Sunday football is appalling and alarming,” Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, said in a statement. “These illegal ads should immediately be pulled from the air, and the White House’s many apparent violations of the law should be investigated.”
Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr defended the ad spend last week, saying there was no reason for concern about a crop of new taxpayer-funded ads supporting President Trump, calling them a “normal PSA.”
MAGA Inc. reportedly started September with about $415 million on hand. The organization and two super PACs affiliated with it have since set aside about $194 million for advertising ahead of November, according to AdImpact data.
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