Trump’s taxpayer-funded propaganda ads draw third lawsuit

By Brentin Mock

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US President Donald Trump wears a "Trump 2028" hat while he speaks during the 2026 White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, DC, on July 24, 2026. The 2026 WHCA Dinner was originally scheduled for April 25 at the Washington Hilton, but was rescheduled and relocated after an alleged gunman breached security. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)

The Trump administration illegally diverted millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, designated for border security and honoring Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, to run promotional campaign commercials for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, according to a new lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

It’s the third lawsuit filed this week in response to the campaign-style ads, seemingly created to boost Republican candidates in this year’s midterms as both the party and Trump are registering historically low approval ratings.  

“They are ‘designed to aid’ Republican candidates and the Republican Party, and to further the ‘aggrandizement’ of President Trump,” the lawsuit alleges. 

The commercials are just the latest effort by the Trump administration to unlawfully use federal government resources to unfairly influence elections this year.

They’ve aired mostly during football broadcasts and Sunday morning news show programming, casting Trump amidst jingoist backdrops such as Mount Rushmore and delivering dire warnings about defeating socialism and communism in America.

All of the ads end with the message, “Paid for by the U.S. government.”

The use of taxpayer funds, appropriated from the Treasury, violates several federal laws and statutes, the lawsuit charges, including the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which prohibits public funds from being used “for publicity or propaganda purposes.”

The Wisconsin Democrats also claim that the ads run afoul of the Hatch Act, the Antideficiency Act, the Purpose Statute and the Administrative Procedure Act, which restrict how federal officials can use taxpayer money and prevent it from being spent for partisan purposes. 

In September, Trump officials were instructed to pull $20 million from a DHS account meant for agency events such as “Line-of-Duty death memorials” to pay for the ads, the lawsuit alleges. The directive was widely reported.

“None of the ads tell viewers how to enroll in, apply for, or obtain any government program, benefit, or service, or provide a deadline or other actionable public information,” the lawsuit reads. “Instead, the ads glorify the President and are designed to aid the Republican party in the upcoming elections.”

Earlier this week, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) also sued Trump over the ads, claiming they “marshal government resources in support of the President’s party in advance of the 2026 midterm election” and that they “undermine free and fair elections.”

On Friday, the DNC followed up by asking the judge in that case to impose a Temporary Restraining Order or Preliminary Injunction to immediately block the ads from running.

A group of pro-democracy organizations also stung Trump’s ads with a lawsuit this week arguing that the president illegally diverted public money to produce what they call partisan political propaganda.

“The ads are contrary to decades of clear Congressional requirements that prevent partisan ads being funded through taxpayer dollars,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the organizations that filed the suit.