Pro-Trump TV ads paid for with Customs and Border Protection money, official says

The Trump administration paid for TV ads showing him in a favorable light using money intended for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an official and a top Republican senator confirmed to NBC News.

The source of the funding for the controversial ads the White House has described as public service announcements was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Asked for comment on the source of the funding, a White House spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday, “These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad. The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic.”

The spokesperson referred specific questions about the funding to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP.

The department said in a statement that it “follows all applicable rules for contracting decisions and keeps all decision makers informed. All contracting decisions are made in accordance with applicable law.”

The unusual ads — one of which is nearly identical to a 2024 Trump campaign ad — include disclaimers stating they were paid for by the U.S. government. The administration’s apparent use of taxpayer money to produce ads that resemble campaign advertisements has drawn bipartisan criticism.

“It’s a great message. I like the message,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Monday of the most recent ad, “but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.”

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

FOR SUBSCRIBERSMore oil is getting out of the Middle East. Why is it still so expensive?

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe complicated bargain between ‘looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular and the women in his orbit

FOR SUBSCRIBERSSenators unveil bipartisan bill to deliver essential newborn supply kits to new moms

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAI agents promise to run your errands. Websites are fighting back.

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDemocrats face a staggering spending disadvantage in Georgia’s tight race for governor

FOR SUBSCRIBERSObama boosts Senate Democrats with October fundraiser

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday only President Donald Trump would have “the audacity to force Americans not only to watch his propaganda, but to pay for it.”

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, confirmed the official’s account of the source of the funds, saying that “it was taken out of funding that was supposed to be for Customs and Border Protection” in Trump’s so-called big, beautiful bill, which Republicans passed along party lines in 2025.

Collins, who faces a difficult re-election bid this fall, said the Appropriations Committee she chairs had no role in the money that the White House used. In fact, she said appropriations bills to fund the government typically have restrictions against using one account for another purpose.

“That’s why the administration went around the appropriations process and used an account that was part of the reconciliation bill,” Collins said in the Capitol.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

FOR SUBSCRIBERSMore oil is getting out of the Middle East. Why is it still so expensive?

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe complicated bargain between ‘looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular and the women in his orbit

FOR SUBSCRIBERSSenators unveil bipartisan bill to deliver essential newborn supply kits to new moms

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAI agents promise to run your errands. Websites are fighting back.

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDemocrats face a staggering spending disadvantage in Georgia’s tight race for governor

FOR SUBSCRIBERSObama boosts Senate Democrats with October fundraiser

The first of the ads aired earlier this month and featured Trump describing how he wanted to “defeat communism,” set to the song “Love Me” by JMSN. (Lawyers for JMSN on Monday sent a cease-and-desist letter to the White House telling it to stop using his music.)

The second spot closely tracks a 2024 Trump presidential campaign ad. It shows Trump 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.”

The political ad-tracking firm AdImpact has estimated that the administration has spent more than $1.7 million to run the ads.

Earlier in Trump’s term, DHS used taxpayer money to run a series of ads featuring then-Secretary Kristi Noem encouraging immigrants living in the United States illegally to self-deport.

Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., who provided a key vote to pass the megabill, cast doubt on the wisdom of Trump’s decision when asked if pulling the money from CBP was a good move.

“Well, if that’s exactly what happened, probably not,” Justice said, while adding that he’s not an expert on the legality of the move. “But at the same time, I don’t know the particulars to say, well, that those dollars can be used that way, or they can’t be used that way. I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

“I can’t imagine how smart the people in the administration are that they’ve done something that’s just going to fly right in their face,” Justice said. “I can’t imagine that they’ve done something that they know is not right, not ethical, not whatever. I just couldn’t imagine they’d do that. They’re too smart for that.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who announced his retirement last year after clashing with Trump on the megabill, tore into the president’s decision to fund those ads with taxpayer money.

“I hate it. I tell you, it feels like Viktor Orbán talking to the Hungarian people. There’s no place for that sort of thing,” Tillis said, while adding that Trump could have used political resources if he wanted to run a political ad. “If it were, you know, some clear message that was going to appeal to the broader, a real public service announcement, that’s fine. But that was not that.”