Judge Orders the Administration to Pull Taxpayer-Funded TV Ads Praising Trump

A federal judge in New York on Sunday night ordered the Trump administration to stop airing television ads, paid for with Homeland Security funds, that portray President Trump favorably. Judge Jennifer L. Rochon of the Southern District of New York issued a temporary restraining order requiring the government to cancel any remaining spots, including those scheduled to run that night.

Under the order, the administration may not use money appropriated to the Department of Homeland Security to develop, create, distribute or air the challenged ads, NBC News reported. For the two weeks the order is in effect, it also may not enter into, renew or expand contracts for them, the Associated Press reported.

The suit was brought by a coalition led by the nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause and represented by Democracy Forward, a nonprofit legal organization. The plaintiffs include Robert Hunter, a Democratic candidate for the Alabama state House, and a New York labor union and its political action committee. The Democratic National Committee has filed a separate lawsuit over the ads.

Rochon found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits and would suffer irreparable harm without an injunction, and that the balance of interests and the public interest favored them, according to NBC News. She rejected the government’s argument that the dispute was moot.

That argument was the core of the administration’s defense. In a Saturday filing, the Justice Department said a restraining order was unnecessary because the ads would stop airing the next day; DHS had bought airtime through Sunday and told its vendor not to buy more. A DHS official, Holly Mehringer, said in a court declaration that roughly $19 million had been spent, and the AP reported that the money came from a $175 million immigration-enforcement package. The White House has described the spots as public service announcements like those run by past administrations.

Critics say the ads look like campaign commercials. One is nearly identical to a 2024 Trump campaign ad, NBC News reported, and the AP noted that, unlike typical public service announcements, they do not point viewers to any government program. DHS put about $20 million toward the campaign. Legal experts have said the spending may violate a federal law that bars appropriated money from being used for “publicity or propaganda.”

The objections have crossed party lines. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said the ads “shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.” Amid the backlash, Trump said he would cover the cost of future ads with political money, and NBC News noted that the super PAC MAGA Inc. was expected to help. A White House official said there were no immediate plans to reimburse the government for what has already been spent.

“Our fight continues,” said Virginia Kase Solomón, president of Common Cause. The White House, DHS and the Office of Management and Budget did not immediately comment on the ruling, NBC News reported.