The Trump regime running television ads that it paid for with taxpayer dollars
Public Citizen
Tue, Oct 6 at 3:10 PM
On Monday, we emailed you about the Trump regime running television ads that it paid for with taxpayer dollars — in flagrant violation of federal law — and what Public Citizen was doing to confront Trump’s illegal propaganda.
Well, at 6:25 Tuesday night, Donald Trump posted that his super PAC, MAGA Inc., would be paying for the ads.
Now, we’re not just going to take Trump at his word. You can be sure we will monitor the situation to check that he does, in fact, stop using taxpayer dollars for any future ads and that he pays the American people back for all the ads that have already aired.
Public Citizen was most definitely not alone in calling out this latest spasm of corruption by the Trump gang.
But while Donald Trump isn’t likely to tell us exactly what made him realize he had been caught red-handed, the reality is we were all over this:
There are larger organizations. There are groups who have been around longer (though we’ve been doing this for 55 years and counting). There are organizations with more “brand recognition” or more funding (we never have, and never will, take money from Big Business or Uncle Sam).
But the combination of policy expertise, legal mastery, political acumen, and organizing know-how that Public Citizen brings to the table is simply unrivaled.
We never give up. We never stop fighting. No matter the odds. No matter the opponent.
If you’ve donated to Public Citizen before, thank you. If a donation is not right, we understand. Either way, thank you for being part of Public Citizen.
For progress,
- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009
Well, at 6:25 Tuesday night, Donald Trump posted that his super PAC, MAGA Inc., would be paying for the ads.
Now, we’re not just going to take Trump at his word. You can be sure we will monitor the situation to check that he does, in fact, stop using taxpayer dollars for any future ads and that he pays the American people back for all the ads that have already aired.
Public Citizen was most definitely not alone in calling out this latest spasm of corruption by the Trump gang.
But while Donald Trump isn’t likely to tell us exactly what made him realize he had been caught red-handed, the reality is we were all over this:
- We filed a formal complaint with government regulators about the apparent violations of laws against using government resources for partisan propaganda.
- We formally petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to step in.
- We filed a formal complaint about apparent violations of the Hatch Act (which prohibits most government employees — including at least some of the people who would have been involved in these ads — from using their positions for partisan political purposes).
- We launched an investigation under the Freedom of Information Act to ascertain where exactly the money for the ads came from (with the regime subsequently admitting that it took the money out of the massive budget that Trump and MAGA Republicans engineered for the Department of Homeland Security).
- We called on the broadcasters themselves not to run the illegal ads.
There are larger organizations. There are groups who have been around longer (though we’ve been doing this for 55 years and counting). There are organizations with more “brand recognition” or more funding (we never have, and never will, take money from Big Business or Uncle Sam).
But the combination of policy expertise, legal mastery, political acumen, and organizing know-how that Public Citizen brings to the table is simply unrivaled.
We never give up. We never stop fighting. No matter the odds. No matter the opponent.
If you’ve donated to Public Citizen before, thank you. If a donation is not right, we understand. Either way, thank you for being part of Public Citizen.
For progress,
- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
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