Democrats sue US President Trump over taxpayer-funded ad campaign

Trump has faced a bipartisan backlash over ads that critics say violate prohibitions on taxpayer-funded propaganda.

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he departs the White House in Washington, DC, on October 7, 2026 [Annabelle Gordon/Pool via EPA]

The Democratic National Committee has filed a lawsuit against United States President Donald Trump over television advertisements that were publicly funded and allegedly used to promote his political policies.

Ken Martin, who heads the Democratic Party’s leadership body, suggested in a statement on Wednesday that the ads were designed to bolster Republican odds in the upcoming November 3 midterm elections .

list 1 of 3 US FCC head says controversial Trump ads do not raise concerns

list 2 of 3 ‘We’ll decide’: Trump hints he may pay for US government-funded ads

list 3 of 3 Most Americans oppose Trump’s taxpayer-funded ‘golden age’ ads: Poll

“Donald Trump is misusing millions of taxpayer dollars to fund pure propaganda ads in a last-ditch attempt to save Republicans in November,” Martin said.

Later that day, Common Cause, a democracy watchdog group, filed a second lawsuit over the same set of ads.

It argued that the ads were “overtly political” and therefore ran afoul of laws that bar public funds from being used for political propaganda.

“These ads are not public-service announcements,” Common Cause said in its lawsuit, citing a justification Trump has offered for the television spots. “They are personal publicity and political propaganda through and through.”

Both lawsuits argue that, to create the ad campaign, Trump directed the White House to repurpose $20m in funds that Congress allocated for commemorative activities related to border security, including for those killed in the line of duty.

That manoeuvre, they argue, violates the separation of powers established in the US Constitution.

“The founders made clear more than 200 years ago that the executive can spend money only according to Congress’s direction,” Common Cause’s lawsuit said.

The two lawsuits also point to a provision Congress includes in its appropriations bills barring the use of taxpayer funds for “publicity or propaganda purposes”.

Both complaints seek to have the ads declared illegal, and the expenditures stopped. They also call for steps to be taken to recover any money already spent on the ads.

The Democrats’ lawsuit was filed in Washington, DC, while the Common Cause complaint will be heard in the Southern District of New York.

Trump has faced mounting criticism over the ads, which began airing in September.

So far, the advertising campaign has cost more than $12m to run, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact.

The $20m Trump tapped for the ads comes from a $175m package Congress assigned to the Department of Homeland Security as part of Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda.

Critics have pointed out that one of the ads appears nearly identical to a television spot Trump used in his 2024 re-election campaign.

Three ads have aired so far. In one, a choir sings “love me” over a montage of Trump as he declares the US will “never be a communist country”. Another uses images of Mount Rushmore as Trump heralds a new “golden age of America”.

The third is darker: Trump walks towards the camera in black and white, warning of a “final battle” against the “deep state” and other perceived enemies.

On Wednesday, the news agency Reuters and the research firm Ipsos released a poll showing the ads are highly unpopular . Some 86 percent of the Americans surveyed, including four out of five Republicans, said it was inappropriate for Trump to have used public money for them.

Trump has defended the ads as “promotion for the country”, and he has argued they were similar to public outreach campaigns put out by previous administrations.

But after a bipartisan backlash, Trump said on Monday that taxpayer funds would no longer be used for future ads .

He did not, however, commit to paying back the money already spent on the existing ads.

Members of Trump’s Republican Party have been among those speaking out against the ad campaign.

Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said the advertisements resembled something former Hungarian leader Viktor Orban would put out.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, meanwhile, indicated he agreed with the message in one of the advertisements, but he emphasised that “it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars”.

特朗普因其广告遭到两党人士的强烈反对，批评人士称这些广告违反了禁止使用纳税人资金进行宣传的规定。

2026年10月7日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普离开位于华盛顿特区的白宫时向媒体发表讲话。[Annabelle Gordon/Pool via EPA]

民主党全国委员会已对美国总统唐纳德·特朗普提起诉讼，指控其利用公共资金投放电视广告，宣传其政治政策。

民主党领导机构负责人肯·马丁周三在一份声明中表示，这些广告旨在提高共和党在即将到来的 11 月 3 日中期选举中的胜算。

美国联邦通信委员会主席表示，备受争议的特朗普竞选广告并未引发担忧（共3条，此为第1条）

列表 2/3 “我们会决定”：特朗普暗示他可能会为美国政府资助的广告付费

民调显示，大多数美国人反对特朗普用纳税人的钱投放“黄金时代”广告（共3条，此为第3条）。

马丁说：“唐纳德·特朗普正在滥用数百万美元的纳税人资金，资助纯粹的宣传广告，这是他为了在11月挽救共和党而做的最后一搏。”

当天晚些时候，民主监督组织“共同事业”（Common Cause）就同一组广告提起了第二起诉讼。

它认为这些广告“明显带有政治色彩”，因此违反了禁止将公共资金用于政治宣传的法律。

“这些广告并非公益广告，”公共事业组织“共同事业”（Common Cause）在诉讼中援引特朗普对这些电视广告的辩解称，“它们彻头彻尾是个人宣传和政治宣传。”

两起诉讼均认为，为了开展广告宣传活动，特朗普指示白宫挪用国会拨款 2000 万美元用于与边境安全相关的纪念活动，包括纪念因公殉职人员。

他们认为，这种做法违反了美国宪法规定的权力分立原则。

“早在200多年前，建国先贤们就明确表示，行政部门只能按照国会的指示花钱，”公共事业组织“共同事业”（Common Cause）的诉讼称。

这两起诉讼还指出，国会在其拨款法案中包含一项条款，禁止将纳税人的资金用于“宣传或宣传目的”。

两份投诉均要求宣布这些广告非法，并停止相关支出。投诉还要求采取措施追回已用于广告的款项。

民主党的诉讼是在华盛顿特区提起的，而“共同事业”组织的投诉将在纽约南区进行审理。

自9月份开始播出以来，特朗普因这些广告而面临越来越多的批评。

据媒体追踪公司 AdImpact 的数据显示，迄今为止，该广告宣传活动已花费超过 1200 万美元。

特朗普拨给这些广告的 2000 万美元，来自国会分配给国土安全部的 1.75 亿美元拨款，这是特朗普移民执法议程的一部分。

批评人士指出，其中一则广告与特朗普在 2024 年竞选连任时使用的电视广告几乎一模一样。

目前已播出三则广告。其中一则广告中，合唱团演唱着“爱我”，配以特朗普宣称美国“永远不会成为共产主义国家”的蒙太奇画面。另一则广告则以拉什莫尔山的影像为背景，特朗普宣告美国“黄金时代”的到来。

第三幅画面风格阴暗：特朗普在黑白画面中走向镜头，警告人们将与“深层政府”和其他被认为是敌人的势力展开“最终决战”。

周三，路透社和益普索联合发布的一项民调显示，这些广告极不受欢迎。约86%的受访美国人，包括五分之四的共和党人，认为特朗普动用公共资金投放这些广告是不恰当的。

特朗普为这些广告辩护说，这是“为国家做宣传”，他还辩称这些广告与前几届政府推出的公共宣传活动类似。

但在遭到两党强烈反对后，特朗普周一表示，未来将不再使用纳税人的钱来投放广告。

但他并未承诺偿还已用于现有广告的费用。

特朗普所在的共和党成员也公开反对这项广告宣传活动。

北卡罗来纳州共和党参议员汤姆·蒂利斯表示，这些广告很像匈牙利前领导人维克托·欧尔班会发布的那种广告。

与此同时，参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩表示，他同意其中一则广告中的信息，但他强调“不应该用纳税人的钱来支付”。