FCC head says government-funded Trump ads are ‘normal’ and ‘don’t raise any red flags’

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr said Wednesday that new pro-Trump TV ads paid for with government funds don’t “merit any sort of FCC review.”

“It doesn’t strike me as anything at all out of the ordinary,” Carr said of the ads, which have aired across the country in recent weeks.

Asked about allegations that the ads are “propaganda,” Carr laughed.

The White House has “explained that these are just normal-course public service announcements, PSAs, that you see all the time. I don’t think there’s anything unique or different about it,” he said at a news conference.

“There’s nothing in there that strikes me that merit any sort of FCC review,” said Carr, whom Trump appointed to the agency.

A reporter pointed out that the progressive advocacy group Public Citizen filed a complaint with the FCC noting that the Trump campaign used one of the ads in 2024.

Carr brushed off the concern, telling reporters that “there’s groups on the left that have, you know, long worked and pushed to weaponize the FCC’s license renewal process” but that the ads “don’t raise any red flags.”

Public Citizen did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Anna Gomez, the lone Democratic commissioner on the FCC, told NBC News in a statement, “I recognize the concern shared by others that taxpayer dollars are being used to promote a political message, particularly given the timing of these ads coming so close to an election.”

“While it is not surprising to see the FCC exercise a double standard when it comes to its investigative decisions, I am certain we will hear more about this from folks in Congress, who are ultimately responsible,” her statement said.

The use of federal funds to pay for the ads has drawn bipartisan criticism, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., saying they “shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars” and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., calling them an “absolute violation of what democracy is supposed to look like.”

Trump defended the ads when asked about them Wednesday in the Oval Office.

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“I’m not running for office and I don’t talk about anybody,” he said. “When I’m talking about making America great, making our country great, that’s a countrywide ad. That’s an ad for the spirit of our country.”

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“Now, if somebody said that that’s wrong, I’ll gladly pay the money. But these are ads for the country,” he added.

The first of the ads features Trump describing how he wants to “defeat communism” while the song “Love Me” by JMSN plays in the background.

Another spot is a slightly shorter version of a 2024 Trump campaign ad, which shows him walking down a hallway as he asks people in a voice-over to join him in his “final battle” to “demolish the deep state” and “expel the warmongers from our government.”

In its complaint Tuesday, Public Citizen said that the messages are thinly veiled campaign ads timed to motivate Trump’s supporters ahead of the upcoming midterm elections and that they are unlawful.

“Federal law explicitly prohibits using appropriated public funds for government propaganda, self-aggrandizement, or partisan political advertising. Yet, that is exactly the nature of Trump’s recent campaign ads,” the complaint says, adding that none of the ads to date “meet the standard of a public service announcement.”

“They 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 complaint says.

Carr has made headlines for using his post to go after late-night comedians like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel and network programs that he has alleged have liberal biases.

The FCC issued an order this year directing Disney’s eight owned-and-operated television stations to file their broadcast license renewals ahead of schedule after the White House and ABC clashed over a joke Kimmel made about first lady Melania Trump.

Disney is challenging the review with a suit alleging the FCC is seeking to coerce and retaliate against “a network that refuses to bow to the ⁠administration’s ​demands.” Carr has said the ABC license review stems from the FCC’s probe of Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices — not “speech.”