Vance insists taxpayer funded ads promoting Trump are not partisan

Vice President JD Vance on Monday defended a series of government-funded television spots starring President Donald Trump, insisting they carry no partisan message. Speaking at Joint Base Andrews, he said the ads simply tell the public what the government is doing, as he argued earlier administrations had done when promoting the Affordable Care Act under Barack Obama. He said he saw nothing unusual in them and was trying to convey how great the country is, according to The Independent.

The spots, which reportedly cost the administration over $2.8 million in airtime on CNN, MS NOW and other outlets, show Trump vowing to take on communism, the deep state and the press, while touting his tax cuts and support for American manufacturing. Each one states it was paid for by the U.S. government. A White House official told The Independent the spots are not political because Trump is not on the ballot and they make no call to action.

Critics disagree, and the midterm elections arrive in November. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, suggested possible theft of government property and Hatch Act violations. Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana told CBS News that officials should not spend public funds promoting themselves.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Independent’s reporting. Read the full story at The Independent →