The administration continued to broadcast pro-Trump ads funded by Homeland Security money even after a judge ordered a halt, Trump opponents told a court on Monday.
The challengers said a tool to track advertising showed hundreds of airings of the ads in question since 7 p.m. Sunday, when U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon issued a restraining order barring the ads from being run on taxpayers’ dime.
Judge Rochon ruled Sunday, then followed up with an opinion Monday saying the ads touting President Trump’s first-term successes — coming less than a month before the federal election — likely violate the law.
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The Justice Department, in a letter to the judge Monday evening, said it alerted DHS in an email Sunday about the ruling, but DHS didn’t get the memo until Monday morning, and that’s when it ordered its vendor to shut things down.
Jamie McDonald, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, apologized for the delay but insisted things were now on track.
“The government is in compliance with the TRO,” he wrote in an update.
Judge Rochon, a Biden appointee to the court in New York, traced the ads directly back to an August meeting where Mr. Trump said he wanted to tout his accomplishments, and have U.S. taxpayers pay for it.
The ads celebrated Mr. Trump’s trade policy and the daring military capture and criminal charges against former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, declared his antipathy to communism and highlighted his desire to “demolish the deep state.”
Judge Rochon said the ads “misappropriated government funds” and said the government didn’t have a good defense.
“Defendants did not contest that the placements for the challenged advertisements were paid for by taxpayer appropriated funds for border security, technology, and screening and did not dispute plaintiffs’ contention that use of those funds violated the Purpose Act and the Appropriations Act,” she wrote in her ruling.
She said the administration’s chief argument was that the case was moot because the ad run had finished.
But the judge said Mr. Trump’s defense of the ads as a “standard thing to do” suggested the government might try again, so she had to issue the restraining order.
A lead plaintiff challenging the ads was Robert Hunter, a Democrat running for a seat in Alabama’s state House. He said he identifies as a democratic socialist and said the ads criticizing communism and socialism amount to an attack on him.
He said he’s spent just $1,812 in his campaign, compared to the millions of dollars DHS has spent nationally.
Judge Rochon said Mr. Trump’s ads create a difficult election environment for Mr. Hunter, giving him standing to sue.
Democrats cheered her decision.
“Taxpayer dollars are not Trump’s personal propaganda fund,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat. “This court order is a win for taxpayers, but stopping the ads is only the beginning. Americans deserve answers about every dollar spent.”
He called for an investigation into who approved the ads and how much was spent.
Judge Rochon, in her ruling, detailed five ads that ran at varying times between Sept. 23 and this past weekend.
“The Country He Loves” aired 1,215 times through Oct. 8. “Celebrating the Enduring Spirit” ran 3,190 times. “Final Battle” ran 9,679 times. “To the Great Proud People of Iran” ran 782 times. And “Maduro” ran 1,288 times.
Judge Rochon said perhaps eight other ads may also have been part of the campaign.
A DHS official said the ads were paid for out of its border agency’s money earmarked for “commemorating efforts and events related to border security.”
She said money didn’t pay for creating the ads but did pay for the airtime, at a cost of $19 million in media buys through Sunday.
She said that was the last day planned.
Bradley Girard, a lawyer for the challengers, asked Monday for a hearing to explore whether the ads were still running and whether that violated the judge’s orders.
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