President Donald Trump announced Monday that he will begin paying for the controversial slate of promotional ad spots — which had previously been funded by U.S. taxpayers — using his own money or funds raised by a pro-Trump super PAC.
“The Radical Left is upset with the fact that I am taking Ads, which I consider to be a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A., and paying for them with U.S.A. money,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “I have decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.”
Federal campaign-finance law makes it illegal for a U.S. president to direct the spending decisions of a super PAC. Trump has frequently called MAGA Inc. — the $400 million super PAC run by his political allies — “my money that I control.”
Last month, a campaign watchdog group submitted an official complaint with federal election regulators, arguing that Trump’s oversight of MAGA Inc. violates the law.
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Lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, have criticized the White House’s recent ad spending as potentially illegal and a misuse of taxpayer funds after it siphoned $20 million in Homeland Security funds to bankroll the ads, including one earlier this week that was similar to a 2024 Trump campaign ad.
Trump has argued that the ads are legal because they don’t promote him directly, but instead promote the United States. He told reporters last week that he will “gladly” pay for the ads “if somebody said that that’s wrong.”
Trump did not say whether money already spent on ad spots would be reimbursed to taxpayers by the president or his PAC.
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