#misappropriation
2 entries with this tag
A Federal Judge Ordered the Trump Administration to Immediately Stop the Taxpayer-Funded TV Ads Starring the President — Ruling That DHS Had Likely Broken the Law by Diverting $20 Million Congress Appropriated for Immigration Enforcement Into Spots Touting Trump's Record Less Than a Month Before the Midterms — and the Administration Kept Airing Them Anyway, Drawing a Contempt Hearing
On October 11, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon issued a temporary restraining order forcing the Trump administration to immediately halt the taxpayer-funded television ads featuring President Trump — the DHS-run campaign this archive has already documented. The ruling was blunt about why: DHS had taken $20 million that Congress appropriated for immigration enforcement and spent it on ads that, in the judge's words, "misappropriated government funds," touting the president's record less than a month before the midterm elections. The suit was brought by a coalition including Common Cause and SEIU Local 32BJ, represented by the legal group Democracy Forward; the Democratic National Committee filed its own parallel suit the same day. Rochon ordered DHS to stop producing and distributing the ads, to cancel television slots already reserved, and barred new or expanded ad agreements for the 14-day life of the order, finding the government had no good legal defense. Then the administration kept some of the ads running after the order, blaming "email delays," and the court set a hearing to decide whether it had violated the injunction. Using public money appropriated for one purpose to run campaign-style ads for the president is a straightforward abuse; being ordered to stop and continuing anyway is contempt of a court's authority on top of it.
The Washington Post Traced the Money Behind Trump's "Love Me" Propaganda Ads: It Was Routed Through a Homeland Security Budget Line Designated for Memorials to Police Officers Killed in the Line of Duty — and Drawn From Billions Meant for Border Security — When the White House Padded That Line by $20 Million on September 19 and DHS Awarded a $20 Million Pro-Trump "National Media Campaign" Contract the Very Next Day
On October 1, 2026, The Washington Post reported where the Trump administration's campaign-style television ads — the ones labeled "Paid for by the U.S. Government," including the spot with a chorus chanting "love me" over the president — actually got their money. According to the Post, the funds were drawn from pots Congress approved for border-security upgrades, combating drug trafficking, and memorials for officers killed in the line of duty. The mechanism is the damning part. On September 19, the White House Office of Management and Budget added $20 million to a Department of Homeland Security budget line designated for "commemorative events" — a line Congress intended for "Line-of-Duty death memorials, Department or agency anniversaries, and commendation ceremonies." The next day, September 20, DHS awarded a $20 million contract for a "National Media Campaign" to a Maryland advertising firm. To put the $20 million into that memorial line in the first place, OMB reached into the roughly $6.7 billion the law had allocated to Customs and Border Protection. In plain terms: the administration took money meant to honor slain police officers (itself diverted from border security), and one day later spent the identical sum on advertisements glorifying the president. Experts say using appropriated funds this way likely violates the federal ban on government propaganda; Democrats call it flatly illegal. The administration that never stops invoking "back the blue" raided the fund for the fallen to pay for a commercial begging Americans to love Donald Trump.