Leader Schumer Demands Investigation Into Corrupt Use Of Taxpayer Money In Trump Propaganda Ads; Will Report Trump To FEC Over Illegal Control Of MAGA, Inc.

After Trump Announces He Will Direct MAGA, Inc. To Pay For His Propaganda, Schumer Pushes For Continued Investigation Into Misuse Of Taxpayer Dollars

Schumer Additionally Announced Plan To Report Trump To FEC Over Illegal Campaign Control Of MAGA, Inc.

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demanded the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) and Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate and preserve records related to the Trump administration's misuse of taxpayer funds to make partisan political advertisements. Schumer's effort follows Trump's announcement that he will direct MAGA, Inc., a Super PAC, to begin paying for the ads after bipartisan uproar denounced the political ads being paid for by the US government. Additionally, Schumer announced a plan to report Trump to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) -- Trump cannot legally direct actions by MAGA, Inc., including to pay for his propaganda ads.

In the closing days of the midterm election season, President Trump has furthered his dangerous slide into authoritarianism by misusing taxpayer dollars to pay for blatantly political ads. Despite a clear prohibition on using congressionally allocated funds for publicity or propaganda, the Trump administration spent millions of taxpayer dollars on what could only reasonably be called a political ad.

Following widespread bipartisan uproar over the state-funded propaganda ads, Trump has announced he will direct MAGA, Inc. to pay for the ads. While Trump may have relented to public pressure, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is continuing to push for an immediate and thorough investigation into these ads and the preservation of all relevant records.

Additionally, Schumer announced he will report Trump to the FEC for illegally coordinating with MAGA, Inc. - federal campaign laws prohibit candidates and officeholders from controlling or operating Super PACs.

"With his ridiculous propaganda ads, Trump is following in the footsteps of the foreign authoritarians he regularly fawns over, like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un," said Leader Schumer. "Trump has gutted funding for health care and other essential programs but he nonetheless found millions of dollars - taxpayer dollars - to pay for political ads. This is illegal, corrupt, and undemocratic - and now he's following with another illegal act by directing his Super PAC to pick up the tab for his propaganda. Donald Trump should not be able to get away with this gross waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars for his ridiculous propaganda ads. There must be an immediate investigation."

In his demands of the GAO and OSC, Leader Schumer argues that this is not just about a political ad. These actions get to the heart of what the federal government is allowed to do with taxpayer dollars and how complicit members of the administration are in pushing out propaganda. There should not only be an investigation of how these ads came to be, but also a full audit of federal employees who were involved in creating, approving, or disseminating the commercials. The question remains whether the government remains accountable to the American people or if it can be hijacked by whichever party is in the Oval Office.

The full text of the letter can be seen here and below.

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The Honorable Orice W. Brown

Acting Comptroller General of the United States

U.S. Government Accountability Office

The Honorable Charles Baldis

Special Counsel

U.S. Office of Special Counsel

Re: Urgent demand for investigation of taxpayer-funded partisan advertising

Acting Comptroller General Brown and Special Counsel Baldis:

I write to demand an immediate investigation into whether the Trump Administration has diverted federal funds appropriated by Congress to finance political advertising featuring President Donald Trump in the weeks before the 2026 midterm elections.

Americans watching football games and weekend news programming have been confronted with advertisements bearing the disclosure, "Paid for by the U.S. Government." These are not recognizable public-service announcements. They are political hype videos: images of President Trump set to emotionally loaded music, rhetoric about defeating "communism, socialism, and Marxism," and recycled campaign-style attacks on the "deep state," "globalists," and the "fake news media." One spot reportedly repurposes material from Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

The White House's claim that these ads are apolitical because the President is not technically a candidate collapses in light of Trump's own call for voters to "pretend" that he is on the November ballot. Taxpayer dollars cannot be used to turn that political instruction into a federally funded campaign ad. There is a basic principle at stake: the government is not the President's campaign committee, and the Treasury is not his campaign account. The federal government has no legitimate business billing the public for campaign messaging that a candidate's political committee should pay for.

In the closing weeks of a midterm election, these productions appear to function as taxpayer-funded efforts to strengthen the President's party, regardless of the label the White House attaches to them. When federal employees use official resources to broadcast attacks framed in the President's familiar campaign language, at the very moment candidates of his party are seeking office, the public is entitled to more than a White House label calling the ads "public service announcements."

GAO should determine the precise source of every dollar used to conceive, produce, purchase, place, distribute, and promote these advertisements, including any funds shifted among agencies or accounts. GAO should identify the authorizing officials, contractors, and agencies involved; determine the total cost, including television placements and official social-media distribution. GAO should then conclude whether those expenditures were authorized by Congress and consistent with the purposes and restrictions governing the accounts from which the money was drawn.

The reported conduct appears to warrant scrutiny under the prohibition on using appropriated funds for unauthorized publicity or propaganda and other appropriations laws. If an agency used funds appropriated for a defined governmental program to purchase communications whose predominant purpose was to burnish the President's political standing, GAO should determine whether that expenditure complied with the appropriation's authorized purpose and the relevant funding restrictions. For example, if funds appropriated for border security or law-enforcement activities were redirected to finance political communications, the Administration must identify the statutory authority permitting that use. Taxpayer money must be spent for the purposes Congress specified, not for presidential vanity projects or thinly veiled electioneering.

OSC should separately examine the conduct of federal employees involved in creating, approving, procuring, disseminating, or promoting the advertisements. The relevant question is whether covered employees used their official positions, government resources, or official communications infrastructure for activity directed toward the electoral interests of a party or candidates. OSC should obtain the records necessary to answer that question, including directives, approvals, procurement documents, contracts, scripts, internal communications, and distribution plans, and pursue appropriate action if the evidence establishes a violation.

This is about more than a set of advertisements. It is about whether the federal government remains accountable to the people or can be converted into a propaganda apparatus for whoever occupies the Oval Office. In a democracy, citizens should never be compelled to finance political messaging designed to elevate an incumbent and demonize opponents. The line between public information and partisan propaganda exists for a reason. These advertisements did not test that boundary, they treated it as nonexistent, converting government communications into taxpayer-financed political promotion.

I urge GAO and OSC to open investigations immediately, preserve relevant records, provide a public accounting of the funds and personnel involved, and take all appropriate action under law.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senator

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