Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Chris Murphy of Connecticut asked Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Tuesday to answer within 48 hours how the Department of Homeland Security committed $20 million to advertisements featuring President Donald Trump, according to a letter they sent him. Murray is the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and Murphy is the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that handles Homeland Security funding; they said the money was drawn from the law Trump signed last summer and was supposed to go to US Customs and Border Protection.
Senate Democrats demand answers on $20 million DHS ad campaign featuring Trump
Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Chris Murphy of Connecticut asked Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Tuesday to answer within 48 hours how the Department of Homeland Security committed $20 million to advertisements featuring President Donald Trump, according to a letter they sent him. Murray is the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and Murphy is the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that handles Homeland Security funding; they said the money was drawn from the law Trump signed last summer and was supposed to go to US Customs and Border Protection.
House Democrats said Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, moved the money from Homeland Security to the ad campaign on Sept. 19. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security subcommittee, said the administration used the law to pay for the ads after cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid and social services and more than quadrupling funding for mass deportations.
Data from the outside firm AdImpact shows more than $2.5 million was spent on the three ads over the past seven days. The actual amount spent could be significantly more, depending on whether networks classified the ads as political. The senators said DHS has committed $20 million to the campaign. A person who was unauthorized to discuss the situation and granted anonymity confirmed the findings, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The ads began running last week during popular TV shows, including college and National Football League programming, and are airing on network and cable TV and streaming. One new ad that ran over the weekend resembles a black-and-white video from Trump's own 2024 campaign, showing him walking down a hallway as his voice warns of a "final battle" against "globalists" and "warmongers"; it ends with Trump staring into the camera as a "Paid for by the US Government" message is printed.
The White House has defended the advertisements, which disclose that they are funded by the US government, as public service announcements, and the administration has shown no signs of changing course. The ads appear to violate a law against congressionally appropriated funds being used for propaganda, according to critics cited in the report, and experts said they differ from other administrations' public service announcements because they are not designed to help Americans access any specific program.
The campaign comes during a midterm election season in which Republican control of the House and Senate, and Trump's future agenda, are described as at risk. Voters say they are struggling with high prices of gas and groceries and are concerned about the lengthy US war against Iran, now in its seventh month. Democrats are preparing for oversight of Trump and his administration if they seize power, and impeachment is not off the table.
Congress gave the department $175 billion in the law for Trump's immigration enforcement and deportation agenda. Democrats voted against the package, which Trump signed into law last summer, in part because of its steep cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Trump's own political campaign committee, MAGA Inc., is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars that could be used during the midterm season, and groups aligned with MAGA Inc. have started shelling out funds for the House and Senate races.
- The source does not state whether Secretary Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security or the White House responded to the senators' letter or to its 48-hour deadline.
- The source does not state that any regulator, court or law enforcement body has opened an inquiry or filed an action over whether the ads violate the anti-propaganda law.
- The source does not state the cost of each ad individually, or which networks classified them as political.
- The source does not name the experts who commented on the ads, or the person granted anonymity who confirmed the findings.
- The source does not give the calendar date of the senators' letter beyond "Tuesday," or the date the ads began running beyond "last week."
- The source refers to the law that funds the transfer both as the "One Big Beautiful Bill" and as the "Big, Beautiful, Bill."
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