DOJ apologizes after Trump campaign-style ad airs despite court order

The plaintiffs said the ads aired on multiple television programs Sunday night, including 60 Minutes, ABC World News Tonight, and America’s Funniest Home Videos.Nearly 400 ad spots ran on programs that began airing at 7 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, after the court order took effect, according to the filing. The advertisement “Final Battle” ran 193 times during 60 Minutes on CBS, while “Maduro” aired 198 times during America’s Funniest Home Videos on ABC. The ads also continued airing on Monday, with “Final Battle” appearing in 11 spots and “The Country He Loves” airing once, according to the filing. The plaintiffs said they were not seeking contempt sanctions but requested a status conference to determine whether the administration had complied with the order.The Justice Department said late Monday that the Department of Homeland Security had provided the temporary restraining order to its advertising vendor, LMD Agency, that morning. Government counsel had not become aware of an earlier email from agency counsel until Monday morning, according to their filing. The government apologized to the court and plaintiffs and said it was complying with the order.“Defendants understand that they shall cancel or cause to be cancelled any slot, placement, reservation, or arrangement for the airing or dissemination of the challenged advertisements,” a DOJ lawyer wrote to District Judge Jennifer Rochon. The dispute stems from the Trump administration’s more than $20 million television advertising campaign promoting the president’s policies and agenda. Each spot includes the disclaimer, “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”Rochon, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, issued the injunction Sunday, ordering the administration to halt the advertising campaign.In a court filing Saturday, the Justice Department argued that a temporary restraining order was unnecessary because “the alleged offending conduct will end tomorrow.” The White House previously told the Washington Examiner that the advertisements were not political because Trump is not on the ballot and the spots contain no explicit call to action.Meanwhile, the plaintiffs welcomed the injunction, saying they were “pleased the court acted swiftly to prevent more taxpayer dollars from being used for such blatantly unlawful political propaganda.”“There is no legal justification — and no precedent — for the president to use the machinery of the government and funds set aside by Congress for other uses to influence electoral outcomes that further his own agenda,” they added in a statement released by Democracy Forward.Judge orders DHS to halt taxpayer-funded ads featuring TrumpTrump defended the campaign in an Oct. 5 Truth Social post, arguing that previous administrations had used government-funded advertising campaigns. He also said he had decided to pay for the advertisements himself through MAGA Inc., his fundraising political action committee.“The Radical Left is upset with the fact that I am taking Ads, which I consider to be a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A., and paying for them with U.S.A. money,” Trump wrote.