Trump administration kept taxpayer-funded ads running after judge ordered them stopped, blames email delay

The Trump administration continued airing taxpayer-funded ads promoting President Donald Trump after a federal judge ordered the campaign halted, then told the court Monday that an internal email delay was to blame.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon issued a temporary restraining order Sunday evening requiring the administration to immediately stop airing the challenged commercials and cancel future placements while a lawsuit over the ads proceeds.

But plaintiffs* told the court Monday that the ads continued running after the order took effect at 6:46 p.m. Sunday.

According to AdImpact data cited in a new filing, the government’s ads aired in nearly 400 television spots on programs that began at 7 p.m. Eastern — after Rochon’s order was already in force. One of the ads aired in 193 spots during CBS’s 60 Minutes, while another aired in 198 spots during ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos.

The ads continued airing Monday. As of 2:45 p.m., plaintiffs said an ad titled “Maduro” had aired another 20 times, one titled “Final Battle” 11 times and another titled “The Country He Loves” once.

The plaintiffs are not yet seeking contempt sanctions. Instead, they asked Rochon for a status conference to determine whether the administration complied with the order, noting that the commercials were still running the day after the government had represented that the ad buy would no longer continue.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledged the delay in a separate filing Monday.

DOJ told the court that the judge emailed the restraining order to the parties at 6:46 p.m. Sunday, but government counsel did not send it to agency counsel until 7:58 p.m. Agency counsel, DOJ said, did not see the email until Monday morning.

“The undersigned apologizes to the Court and the plaintiffs,” DOJ wrote.

DOJ said the administration is now complying with the order. It told Rochon that the $20 million Customs and Border Protection purchase order funding the ad campaign has been stayed, future payments are frozen, the Office of Management and Budget’s $20 million funding apportionment is on hold and the outside vendor has been instructed to stop running the commercials.

The compliance dispute comes after Rochon temporarily blocked the taxpayer-funded campaign in a lawsuit brought by Common Cause and other plaintiffs* challenging the administration’s use of public money for what they describe as campaign-style political advertising. 

The court’s order bars the government from using DHS funds to develop, distribute or air the challenged ads and requires it to cancel existing placements.

*Democracy Forward represents the plaintiffs in this case. Democracy Docket Founder Marc Elias is the chair of Democracy Forward’s board.