Thune: Ads promoting Trump political message ‘shouldn’t be paid for by taxpayer dollars’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Monday that while he likes President Trump’s new ads pledging to “cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists,” they “shouldn’t be paid for by taxpayer dollars.”

Thune warned Trump about using taxpayer money for ads that resemble the political ads he ran online during the 2024 presidential campaign.

“It’s a great message. I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for by taxpayer dollars,” Thune said Monday afternoon as he walked into the Capitol.

The new ad, which ran on television over the weekend , airing during “Fox News Sunday” and several NFL and college football games, is part of a series of ads with the disclaimer: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”

It is nearly identical to an online ad he posted to his Truth Social account in January 2024, when he was revving up his victorious campaign for president, which urged supporters to text “TRUMP to 88022” to support his campaign.

The latest iteration of the ad, however, ends with a disclaimer informing viewers that it was “paid for by the U.S. government.”

Richard Painter, a White House ethics lawyer under then-President George W. Bush, posted on social platform X that the use of taxpayer money to promote the president’s political message ahead of the midterm elections “ could be an impeachable offense .”

Common Cause, the good-government advocacy group, issued a statement warning that “running political messaging stamped with ‘Paid for by the U.S. Government’ dangerously crosses the line from public service to authoritarian self-promotion.”

The White House has defended the clips, arguing in a statement that they “are clearly not campaign ads” because Trump is not up for reelection this November.

“The announcements are a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it’s worth defending — at home, at the border, and abroad. That’s not partisanship — that’s a government that still believes in the country it serves,” the White House said in its statement.