Trump Personally Hand-Picked the Footage for Taxpayer-Funded MAGA Ad Blitz: Report

(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump personally helped craft a series of taxpayer-funded TV ads promoting himself and his administration, including hand-picking some of the footage and imagery used in the spots, according to a new report.

CNN reported Tuesday that a source revealed Trump was directly and creatively involved in the campaign, which has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike as it airs just weeks before the November midterms.

Two Trump advisers told the network the commercials were produced in-house by Trump’s own video team, part of the communications operation responsible for promoting the administration’s message.

The campaign has included a spot pairing images of Trump with the song “Love Me” by JSMN, featuring UFC boss Dana White praising the president, and another declaring that “America will never be a communist country.” Mediaite previously reported that the ads carried the unusual disclaimer: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”

The latest ad goes further, repurposing material from a video Trump posted during his 2024 presidential campaign.

“This is the final battle,” Trump says before vowing: “We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.”

The government-funded version removes the Trump campaign logo and text-to-donate information found in the earlier video and instead ends with the government funding disclosure. Mediaite reported that the spot aired Sunday and closely mirrored the 2024 campaign version.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that lawyers for Christian Berishaj, whose stage name is JMSN, sent the White House a “cease-and-desist” letter over the use of his song.

The White House, meanwhile, maintained that the spots “are very clearly not campaign ads” with a spokesperson telling the network: “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.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) alleged the campaign could violate federal law, calling it a potential “Hatch Act violation for any government employees who worked on it or used government resources to make it.”

The campaign has, however, divided conservatives.

“It’s a great message. I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN on Monday.

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), a staunch Trump ally, broke with the president over the ads, telling CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday: “I don’t think any public official, including President Trump, or Kristi Noem, or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves.”

Kennedy added that while the White House sees the issue differently, “there oughta be a rule” barring politicians from using taxpayer money to promote themselves.

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