Federal border-security money is funding a different kind of message. Sources told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday that Homeland Security dollars are paying for new TV spots featuring President Trump and sweeping patriotic themes—ads critics say look a lot like campaign material. Republican Sen. Susan Collins later confirmed the source of the ad funds to NBC News, saying "it was taken out of funding that was supposed to be for Customs and Border Protection," an arm of Homeland Security.
The commercials, stamped "paid for by the US government," show Trump vowing that "America will never be a communist country" and promising a "final battle" against a "sick political class" and "fake news media." One ad, which features Trump promising to "expel the warmongers from our government," was used in Trump's 2024 campaign. The White House calls them educational public-service announcements, but Democrats and some Republicans argue they likely violate federal law, including the Hatch Act.
Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Chris Murphy wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Tuesday, saying that "using government funding to create or air political ads like the ones that have been running over the last few days is illegal and a shockingly corrupt misuse of taxpayer dollars," the Journal reports. Both lawmakers are members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Collins, the committee's chair, said it had no role in the use of Homeland Security funds for the ads. "That's why the administration went around the appropriations process and used an account that was part of the reconciliation bill," she said.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
