Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav Trump commercials paid for by the US government continued airing on TV the day after a judge blocked the ads because they likely violate a US law against government-funded publicity or propaganda. In the most widely aired commercial, Trump railed against his perceived enemies and said he would “liberate America from these villains once and for all.” The campaign also included a commercial praising Trump’s record as president, another in which Trump calls the US the “most exceptional nation ever to exist in human history,” and commercials related to the Iran war and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. US District Judge Jennifer Rochon issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the ads on Sunday, October 11, which took effect at 6:45 pm that night. The order said the government must cancel the ads, “including those placements for the evening of October 11, 2026.” The Trump administration had told the court on October 10 that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) advertising purchases were set to expire on October 11 and would not be renewed.
Despite that, the ads continued airing the night of October 11 and on part of October 12. This was also a week after Trump’s October 5 statement that he would start paying for the ads “myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.” A US attorney yesterday filed a status report saying that the government is now complying with the order and issued an apology. “As Your Honor is aware, the Court emailed the TRO to the parties yesterday at 6:46 p.m.,” US Attorney Jamie McDonald wrote in a filing. “Counsel for the Government emailed the TRO to agency counsel at 7:58 p.m. Agency counsel did not become aware of Government counsel’s email until this morning. The undersigned apologizes to the Court and the plaintiffs.” The ads aired as part of a $20 million purchase order that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) made on September 20 with LMD Agency, an ad firm.
The DHS told the court that the ad placements through October 11 cost $19 million. Trump admin said ads would stop Sunday In the previous Trump administration filing opposing the motion for a temporary restraining order, one of the government’s arguments was that a court order was unnecessary because the ads would not run past October 11. It said: DHS issued a purchase order to obtain media services from a vendor in support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for placing national media buys.
The vendor has currently purchased media buys under the terms of the purchase order through tomorrow, October 11, 2026. DHS has directed the vendor not to make any additional media buys past October 11, and DHS has no plans to make any additional media buys under the purchase order or otherwise use appropriated funds on any similar contracts for the creation or distribution of the media that is the subject of this lawsuit. Accordingly, the alleged offending conduct will end tomorrow, and Plaintiffs therefore will suffer no harm, let alone irreparable harm, absent an injunction. The Washington Post reported yesterday that the ads kept running after the restraining order took effect.
Nonprofit advocacy group Common Cause and other groups that sued the government submitted a filing later in the day notifying the court of the government’s noncompliance. The Trump ads continued airing on programs including 60 Minutes, ABC World News Tonight, and America’s Funniest Home Videos. They ran nearly 400 times after the restraining order took effect, including 32 times on Monday, according to AdImpact data cited in the plaintiffs’ court filing. “Plaintiffs do not presently seek contempt sanctions,” the groups said. “But given that the ads have continued to run on October 12—the day after Defendants insisted the ad-buy was no longer effective—Plaintiffs request a status conference to determine Defendants’ compliance.” Judge: Ads “are purely partisan” After the government filed its status report, Rochon scheduled a hearing for Wednesday “to discuss this and next steps in this action.” The lawsuit is in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs are Common Cause; Robert Hunter, a Democratic candidate for a state legislature seat in Alabama; Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ; and Empire State 32BJ SEIU PAC.
Defendants include DHS, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Executive Office of the President. Rochon found that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their claim that the Trump administration violated the 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act requirement that no funding may be used “for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress.” “Defendants do not contest that the at-issue advertisements are purely partisan and unconnected to DHS’s official functions,” Rochon wrote. “Thus, the Court finds that Moving Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that the advertisements are impermissible ‘publicity or propaganda’ under Section 718 [of the Consolidated Appropriations Act].” Trump recycled ad from 2024 campaign One of the ads “is almost identical to one used during President Trump’s 2024 campaign, other than the fact that its funding disclaimer now identifies the United States government rather than his presidential campaign,” Rochon wrote. “It depicts President Trump walking down a hallway while delivering a series of statements about his political adversaries. Among other things, he promises to ‘demolish the deep state,’ ‘drive out the globalists,’ ‘cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists,’ ‘throw off the sick political class that hates our country,’ and ‘rout the fake news media.’ This advertisement provides no information about DHS’s official functions.” As of October 8, the ad “had aired approximately 9,679 times, generating an estimated 972 million impressions at an estimated cost exceeding $9.09 million,” Rochon wrote. Another $6.3 million was estimated to have been spent on four other government-funded ads challenged in the lawsuit. That’s about $15.4 million as of October 8, and more was spent over the next few days.
Rochon found “a clear and substantial likelihood” that the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act “because Congress did not appropriate funds for DHS to spend on disseminating the challenged advertisements.” Rochon said a restraining order was necessary despite the DHS claim that it had “no plans” to continue running the ads. “Defendants also have not provided reasonable assurances that OMB will not reapportion funds from another source to continue running similar advertisements,” she wrote. The temporary restraining order is in place for only two weeks, but it can be converted into a preliminary injunction that would keep the ads off the air while litigation continues. Trump, the White House, OMB, and DHS face a similar lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee in the federal court in the District of Columbia. A hearing on a motion for a temporary restraining order in that case is scheduled for Thursday.
Jon Brodkin Senior IT Reporter Jon Brodkin Senior IT Reporter 91 Comments
