A federal judge on Sunday ordered the Trump administration to stop airing U.S. government-funded ads that portray President Donald Trump in a favorable light, effective immediately.
The lawsuit was filed by the watchdog group Common Cause; Robert Hunter, Democratic candidate for a seat in the Alabama House of Representatives; and a New York union and its political action committee. The suit was one of several similar complaints — including one filed by the Democratic National Committee — that were filed to stop the ads from running.
“Plaintiffs have demonstrated that they are likely to succeed on the merits, that they will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction, that the balance of actions is tilted in their favor, and that an injunction serves the public interest,” wrote U.S. Judge Jennifer Rochon of the Southern District of New York.
The administration said in a court filing Saturday that the Department of Homeland Security, through a vendor, made ad buys through Sunday and instructed the vendor not to purchase ads beyond that day.
Rochon, however, said the plaintiffs’ argument was not moot and ordered the Trump administration to “cancel or cause to be cancelled” any advertisements that were broadcast or aired, including those scheduled to air Sunday evening.
Rochon also wrote that the administration was prohibited from using funds appropriated to DHS to “develop, create, disseminate, place, distribute, publish or broadcast the disputed advertisements.”
The White House, DHS and the Office of Management and Budget, all of which are named as defendants in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision. MAGA Inc., which Trump said last week would help fund ads in the future, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We are pleased that the court acted quickly to prevent more taxpayer dollars from being used for such blatantly illegal political propaganda,” the plaintiffs said in a statement. “There is no legal justification – and no precedent – for the President to use the machinery of government and funds set aside by Congress for other purposes to influence election results that advance his own agenda. »
Virginia Kase Solomón, president and CEO of Common Cause, said that despite the ruling, “our fight continues.”
“We will not stop until this administration is held fully accountable, and no president, regardless of party, will ever again be able to waste and abuse taxpayer dollars for propaganda purposes,” Solomón said.
The ads — one of which was nearly identical to a 2024 Trump campaign ad — faced scrutiny from critics who argued the use of taxpayer dollars could be illegal and called the spots propaganda.
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