Trump says his Super Pac will cover costs of taxpayer-funded self-promotion ads

US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that future television ads promoting himself would be funded by his political action committee, Maga Inc, rather than taxpayer money, after the spots triggered significant public criticism. In a social media post, Trump described the ads as "a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A." and "a rather standard thing to do," but gave no explanation of how he would reimburse taxpayers for ads that had already aired.

Maga Inc is Trump's political fundraising vehicle, which had accumulated more than $400m by the end of July. He has already begun using the fund to support Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections.

Criticism from both parties

The White House, which had previously strongly defended spending taxpayer money on ads promoting the president, said Monday night that Maga Inc would cover the cost of such ads going forward. It did not respond to questions about how it would demonstrate that political funds, rather than public money, were actually being used.

The reversal followed criticism from lawmakers in both parties over the use of taxpayer funds. Last week, two congressional Democrats asked federal watchdogs — the Government Accountability Office and the Office of Special Counsel — to investigate whether the administration had illegally used public money to air the ads, which began running in late September. The Democrats described the spots as "desperate pre-election propaganda."

Legal experts noted the ads could potentially violate federal laws barring the use of congressionally appropriated funds for "publicity or propaganda," as well as restrictions on partisan political activity by government employees.

Three ads

The first ad combined footage of Trump discussing defeating communism with text promoting "the largest tax cuts in history" and a manufacturing revival. A second showed scenic footage of Mount Rushmore paired with clips from Trump's Fourth of July speech marking the country's 250th anniversary. A third, nearly identical to a 2024 campaign ad, showed him warning of a "final battle" against "globalists." All three ended with the message "Paid for by the US government." According to AdImpact, the ads had cost at least $1.4m by the end of September, with the true total potentially higher.