Trump Personally Ordered $20 Million in Border Funds Shifted to TV Ads Praising Himself, Times Reports

Sunday, 3:30 PM PT — President Donald Trump personally ordered his budget director to find $20 million in taxpayer money to air television ads praising his own presidency, according to a New York Times investigation that attributes the account to 12 people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The president’s directive

Mr. Trump was eager to see the laudatory ads on the air and told Russell T. Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to come up with the money from within the government, the Times reports. The president and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, both spoke with Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, about the ads. Mark Paoletta, the budget office’s counsel, and Will Scharf, the White House counsel, both said it would be legal to use Department of Homeland Security funds, according to the Times.

The push dates to an Oval Office meeting in August that was supposed to be about super PAC spending for struggling Republican candidates ahead of the midterms. Instead, the Times reports, Mr. Trump was far more interested in having his assistant Natalie Harp show the group videos of himself. In the weeks that followed, the president kept pressing for the spots to appear on national television.

On Sept. 19, the Office of Management and Budget shifted $20 million in Customs and Border Protection money into a budget line labeled for “commemorative events.” The next day, CBP awarded a $20 million national media contract to LMD, a Maryland marketing firm, federal records show. It was not clear, the Times notes, why taxpayer funds — and not money from the president’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., which entered the fall with $400 million raised since his re-election — were used for the spots.

Money meant for the border

The Washington Post reports that the law allowed the CBP money to be used only for things like port inspection equipment, border surveillance and screening unaccompanied children, while “commemorative events” was defined as “line-of-duty death memorials” and commendation ceremonies. In other words, the funds the White House redirected were earmarked for border security, anti-drug trafficking efforts and memorials for officers killed in the line of duty.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, confirmed the account of the source of the funds in remarks to reporters, saying the money “was taken out of funding that was supposed to be for Customs and Border Protection” in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the reconciliation bill Republicans passed along party lines in 2025. Collins, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, said that panel had no role in the money the White House used — and that appropriations bills typically include restrictions against using one account for another purpose. “That’s why the administration went around the appropriations process and used an account that was part of the reconciliation bill,” she said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters of the most recent ad: “I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., summed up his reaction: “It feels like Viktor Orbán talking to the Hungarian people.” Two Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Chris Murphy, sent a letter to Secretary Mullin accusing the department of “a shockingly corrupt misuse of taxpayer dollars,” according to CNN, while the watchdog group Public Citizen has mounted a fresh challenge to the campaign.

The ad blitz

The spots have run across cable and network television — on Fox News, CNN and MS Now, during football games on Fox, and during national newscasts on CBS, ABC and NBC, including “Meet the Press,” which Mr. Trump is known to watch. CNN has identified at least 13 such ads, made in-house by the White House video team. They end with the on-screen label “Paid for by the U.S. Government,” CNN reports.

According to the political ad-tracking firm AdImpact, cited by CNN, television airtime for three different Trump ads has already cost taxpayers at least $2.5 million, with 2,766 airings counted between Sept. 23 and 29 on Fox News and the four major broadcast networks. About 30 percent of that spending went to NFL and college football games; the spots also ran during ABC’s “The View,” CBS’s “Elsbeth” and NBC’s “The Weakest Link.” AdImpact told CNN the true cost of the campaign is higher but cannot be fully ascertained.

The White House has described the commercials as public service announcements — but artists and lawmakers have objected. One musician publicly disputed the use of his song in one of the spots, CNN reports, and CBP leaders have said they were not informed about the funding shift. Unreleased ads reportedly include titles like “God Made Trump” and footage tied to a White House UFC event, according to Particle’s reporting. The White House says the campaign will expand.

A legal line not crossed before

Since the 1950s, Congress has banned spending federal money on what the law calls “publicity or propaganda,” the Times notes — and while the Government Accountability Office has found violations under Presidents Obama and Bush, those involved policy campaigns — not ads glorifying the president himself. There is no precedent for using government money to air political ads in an election season.

Watchdog complaints filed with the GAO and the Office of Special Counsel could lead to audits, agency reviews or litigation that may reshape how the administration talks about the midterms — and how future White Houses are allowed to spend agency budgets.

Mr. Trump, asked about the funding, said: “If somebody said that that’s wrong, I’ll gladly pay the money.” Then he added: “I’m not promoting myself because I’m not running for office. I’m promoting the country.”

For context on how the White House is spending its political war chest elsewhere, read our earlier reporting on (the $90 checks going to 20 million seniors) and (Trump’s data center push in Ohio). On the energy front, see (the G7 emergency oil reserve release).