President Donald Trump’s administration utilized taxpayer money from the Department of Homeland Security to finance television advertisements promoting his agenda, according to a report published Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal. The disclosures have intensified bipartisan scrutiny just weeks before the November midterm elections.
The report indicates that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provided the funding for the ads. President Trump was personally involved in pushing for the campaign and helping shape its content, the Journal stated, citing individuals with knowledge of the matter.
These advertisements mark a significant departure from CBP’s typical messaging, which usually focuses on discouraging illegal immigration. Instead, the spots prominently feature Trump, highlight his tax reduction policies, oppose communism, and reuse rhetoric from his 2024 presidential campaign. One commercial asserts that “America will never be a communist country” while displaying images of the president, and another invokes his “final battle” theme while criticizing political elites and the news media.
According to CNBC’s prior reporting, more than $1.2 million has been spent airing two of the commercials, based on data from AdImpact. The ads have been broadcast thousands of times across national and local markets.
Congressional Democrats argue the administration allocated approximately $20 million to the effort, utilizing funds directed to CBP through the Republican-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, and Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, addressed DHS in a letter on Tuesday regarding the expenditures.
“It appears DHS has dedicated $20 million to this outrageous scheme,” the senators wrote, calling for an examination of whether appropriated border protection funds were misused for political promotion.
Concerns have also prompted action from oversight organizations. Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, urging broadcasters to cease airing the advertisements. Additionally, the group requested investigations into potential breaches of the Hatch Act, which limits political activities by federal employees, and federal propaganda restrictions, through the Government Accountability Office and the Office of Special Counsel last Friday.
The White House defended the advertising campaign on Tuesday, characterizing the spots as educational public service announcements. A spokesperson told CNBC that the advertisements aim to remind Americans of the values worth defending both domestically and at the borders, describing the content as “unapologetically patriotic.”
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