Ex-Trump Spox Tells CNN Panel President’s Team May Have Duped Network Into Airing His Ad ‘For Free’

Ex-Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke suggested President Donald Trump’s team may have deliberately allowed CNN access to one of its taxpayer-funded promotional ads, knowing the network would effectively broadcast it for free while reporting on the controversy.

CNN senior reporter Betsy Klein reported Friday that the network had obtained clips from a cache of at least 13 campaign-style advertisements produced as part of the administration’s taxpayer-funded campaign promoting Trump and his policies. The clips seen by CNN appeared in a Dropbox account operated by LMD, the agency awarded the government contract for the advertising buys.

On Friday’s The Arena, host Kasie Hunt showed one of the ads in full before beginning a panel discussion on the campaign.

Dubke, however, cautioned that the circumstances surrounding how the network obtained the material raised another possibility.

“We need to draw a couple lines here. First of all, this is from a Dropbox. I work on political campaigns. We do a lot of campaign ads that never see the light of day, and they’re shared with different people inside through Dropbox in order for people to comment on them,” Dubke said.

He continued: “This also could be an oppo dump in the sense from the White House in the sense that they put it out there – I don’t know how Betsy Klein got it – but if it was me and I wanted this ad to be aired for free, this would be a perfect way to do that. So again, I don’t know where these ads were supposed to go.”

Hunt replied: “It’s called earned media coverage actually, if you want to use the technical term.”

“I will, but for your audience I’m just drawing very bright lines on this,” Dubke responded.

He added: “[Trump] is not a candidate, so technically he’s not breaking any of these FEC rules. But yes, should the taxpayers be paying for that? I’m already on record saying, no, this is a step beyond. But these ads, some of the ones that are even far-reaching, they may never see the light of day except for on news channels.”

The unreleased material reportedly includes three ads focused on the U.S. military and operations in Iran and Venezuela, one titled “God Made Trump,” and another highlighting the UFC event Trump hosted at the White House. Each carries the disclaimer “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”

The Trump administration has already placed three of the ads on television, including CNN and MS NOW, despite Trump’s repeated clashes with both networks, in a move that has drawn criticism from Democrats as well as some Republicans over the use of taxpayer money for messaging centered heavily on the president.

Watch above via CNN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!