Trump administration ads aired during football broadcasts as November midterm voting began; NBC News reported AdImpact estimates put their taxpayer-funded cost above $1.7 million. The White House calls the spots public service announcements, not campaign ads.
Congressional spending laws have barred appropriated funds from being used for publicity or propaganda not authorized by Congress since 1951. The Government Accountability Office says the rule does not ban all politically tinged material, but does prohibit communications that are wholly political and unrelated to an agency’s official work, including purely partisan messages.
The White House says the spots are not campaign ads because Trump is not on the ballot and they include no call to action; it compared them with campaigns under earlier administrations. Ethics counsel Margaret Dylus-Yukins said the current ads have no apparent connection to a federal program or service and that the agency paying for them was unknown. The article notes that earlier campaigns cited by the White House were tied to specific agencies or programs.
