AdImpact told CNN that television airtime for three different ads featuring President Donald Trump has cost taxpayers at least $2.5 million so far. The political ad-tracking firm said the true cost of the campaign is higher but cannot be fully determined. AdImpact counted 2,766 airings between September 23 and 29 on Fox News and the four major broadcast networks.
About 30% of that spending went to NFL and college football games, the firm said. The spots also ran during ABC’s The View, CBS’s Elsbeth, and NBC’s The Weakest Link. The White House Office of Management and Budget, led by Russell Vought, allocated $20 million to Customs and Border Protection for what it called “OBBBA commemorative events.”
OBBBA stands for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law in 2025. Two sources familiar with the matter told CNN the funding for the ads is coming from CBP. Shortly after the allocation, CBP contracted LMD Agency Inc. for a national media campaign in the same amount, two additional sources told CNN. The ads started airing days later.
Public Citizen and two senators filed challenges over the CBP advertising contract
LMD’s parent company, MarCom Group, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. CBP sits inside the Department of Homeland Security. On Tuesday, Democratic senators Patty Murray and Chris Murphy sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin accusing the department of “a shockingly corrupt misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Public Citizen co-presidents Robert Weissman and Lisa Gilbert and lobbyist Craig Holman wrote to the FCC and FTC that the ads “appear to violate the federal law against using taxpayer funds to finance propaganda and related provisions of the appropriations laws as well as the Hatch Act.” They also wrote that the ads “do not refer to any specific governmental program and they do not serve the purpose of informing the public about any specific governmental program.”
The group filed another complaint Monday with the Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel seeking an investigation “into who produced these ads and at what cost to taxpayers.” It is unclear whether outside groups have standing to sue. Lawmakers in both parties have questioned the legality of the ads, but Republicans who control the House and Senate have not acted.
The spots were classified as public service announcements rather than regular political ads, so exact spending is not publicly disclosed, AdImpact said. The firm based its figures on air dates, times, local markets, and other factors. The first ad featured the song Love Me by JMSN and has run more than 1,300 times, the firm said.
Lawyers for JMSN sent a cease-and-desist letter to the White House earlier this week demanding that the song no longer be used. The ads have drawn bipartisan scrutiny from lawmakers.
Each of the three ads ends with the on-screen text “Paid for by the US Government,” including one version taken from Trump’s 2024 campaign. Two Trump advisers told CNN the White House video team created the ads in-house. A separate source said the president took part in choosing the imagery and video.
Public Citizen warned that stations that knowingly air the ads could face license challenges. “A station knowingly broadcasting illegal, taxpayer-funded partisan propaganda has failed its public interest mandate, forming the basis of a formal license renewal challenge,” they wrote. The Wall Street Journal first reported the source of the money.
Donald Sherman, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, said, “The most immediate check on this kind of behavior is supposed to be and needs to be Congress. Congress has not asserted itself as the first branch of government with the power of the purse to hold the president accountable.”
He added that GOP lawmakers may hesitate because the ads “are designed to boost Republicans in Congress.” Propaganda is not defined in U.S. law. The Government Accountability Office has listed categories that include “self-aggrandizement” or “puffery.” Hatch Act complaints have often gone unpunished in recent years. Public Citizen said it has filed dozens of such complaints and thinks they have been ignored.
Published: Sep 30, 2026 02:30 pm