Fox aired a taxpayer-funded ad featuring President Donald Trump during college football Saturday and NFL games Sunday, weeks before the midterms. The third such ad in recent days drew criticism from both parties; AdImpact says it has cost taxpayers more than $362,000 so far.
The ad’s voiceover used remarks similar to Trump’s 2023 Veterans Day speech, saying he would cast out communists, Marxists and fascists and denouncing the “fake news media.” A closing caption said “Paid for by the US Government.” The White House calls the ads public service announcements, not campaign ads, intended to remind Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending.
Four lawmakers—Senators Patty Murray and Jack Reed and Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Steny Hoyer—called the spending an “egregious and illegal misuse” in a letter to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; that was their allegation, not a reported legal finding. Awful Announcing said it knew of no other network airing the ads during football and had sought Fox’s comment.
