Trump says he will stop using taxpayer funds for self-promoting ads after backlash – US politics live

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Trump says he will pay for taxpayer-funded ads that sparked backlash for glorifying him

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Donald Trump has said he will stop using taxpayer funds for television advertisements glorifying himself, which sparked a major backlash, and instead tap his super PAC to cover ads going forward.

In a post on his social media site, Trump defended the ads, which cost at least $1.5m in federal funds and have drawn intense criticism. Trump said they were “positive promotion for our Great U.S.A”.

“This is a rather standard thing to do,” the president wrote, while blaming intense criticism for using taxpayer funds on the ads on the “Radical Left.”

But the president added that he had “decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.”

Trump provided no details on reimbursing taxpayers for ads that already aired, nor how he would go about having his political organization pay for such future advertising, AP reported.

The White House - which had fiercely defended using taxpayer money on spots meant to promote the president - said on Monday night that MAGA Inc will pay for such ads going forward. It did not answer questions on how it or Trump might prove that his political funds were being used on such future advertising.

The first ad featured clips of Trump talking about defeating communism interspersed with onscreen text promoting the “largest tax cuts in history,” “reigniting American manufacturing” and a call to “defend law and order and police.”

Later the same week, a second ad began running. It showed scenic videos of Mount Rushmore with quotes and clips from Trump’s 4th July weekend speech there honoring the country’s 250th anniversary.

In other developments:

• Donald Trump said he was “doing great” as his approval rating sank to a record low 32%. The president made the remarks as he headed to Nebraska, to campaign for a Republican senator there.

• Pennsylvania is reporting the largest measles outbreak in the nation, with more than 1,000 cases this year. The governor of neighboring New ⁠York, ⁠Kathy ⁠Hochul, has declared ​a ‌disaster ‌emergency ‌over ​an ⁠ongoing ​measles outbreak there.

• Politico was barred from traveling on Air Force One for Trump’s trip to Nebraska, according to a report by CNN. This comes after the administration previously stopped CNN from similarly traveling with the president, despite a federal judge putting a temporary block on Trump’s overall ban on Politico, CNN and MS Now from the White House.

• Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down as White House press secretary in August, is joining Fox News as an on-air contributor, according to an announcement from the network. Leavitt, 29, the youngest press secretary in White House history, left the administration after the birth of her second child earlier this year.

• The supreme court heard the first arguments of its 2026-27 term, in a case that focuses on whether states can sue oil companies for the impact of climate change on their communities. The lawsuit was filed by local officials in Boulder, Colorado, against Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil.

• Secretary of state Marco Rubio said there was no direct link between the sudden removal of US bombers from a UK airbase and a suspected Iranian plot at ⁠the site last week. “I wouldn’t just directly tie that to ⁠the move that was made,” Rubio told reporters, when asked about the B1 bombers. “The Department of War is constantly reallocating resources where they need to be,“ Rubio added, noting that the US has confidence in the security of all its bases.