Republican senator criticizes White House for taxpayer-funded Trump ads

John Kennedy pushes back against such spending as pro-Trump ‘public service announcements’ air before midterms

As the White House expands a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to promote Donald Trump’s political agenda before the November midterm elections, US senator John Kennedy told CBS News on Sunday “there ought to be a rule” against such spending – before tacitly admitting such spending is “probably” illegal.

Kennedy, the US president’s fellow Republican, was asked by Margaret Brennan, the CBS Face the Nation host, about the White House spending to air multiple ads featuring Trump – including one that was produced for his 2024 election campaign.

Brennan first reminded Kennedy that in March he had rebuked Kristi Noem, then Trump’s homeland security secretary, for spending millions in government funds “to bolster her public image” in a $220m series of ads she starred in. She then asked the Louisiana senator to comment on the new ads featuring Trump, which the White House calls “public service announcements”.

“Our viewers are going to see a 30-second commercial on this program,” Brennan said. “It’s on all major networks – it’s on the cable networks as well. It prominently features President Trump, and there’s a voice praising him as ‘the toughest, most resilient person I ever met’. And at the end, it says ‘paid for by the US government’. Is that the best use of taxpayer money?”