A federal judge in New York has ordered the Trump administration to pull three taxpayer-funded advertisements that she found appeared to have been made for political or propaganda purposes, days before voters head to the polls in the midterm elections.
US District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ruled on Friday that the government must remove the adverts, titled “$5,000 to Americans”, “Every Democrat Voted Against No Tax on Tips” and “Cost of Socialism”, from official government websites and social media channels, including YouTube and Instagram. She also ordered the cancellation of any plans to air or distribute them through third parties, including President Donald Trump’s flagship super PAC, MAGA Inc.
One of the adverts promotes the president’s claim that every American would receive $5,000 if Republicans keep control of Congress in the election. The plaintiffs, a coalition including the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause, had asked the court to remove at least 13 adverts, but Rochon declined to pull the others, at least for now.
The ruling expands a temporary restraining order Rochon issued two weeks earlier, when she banned a series of adverts glorifying Trump and echoing his political messaging. She found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claims regarding the three adverts and would suffer irreparable harm if they were not taken down, warning that the court could neither postpone the election nor turn back the clock.
Rochon also acknowledged limits to the case. She noted that the Government Accountability Office has observed instances in which the president’s office is entitled to inform the public of its policies, justify them and respond to attacks on them, and she found the government would ultimately prevail legally on many of the adverts. She said the plaintiffs were seeking to restrict the office in ways that were “broad and far reaching”.
The White House has defended the adverts as public service announcements similar to those made by past administrations. In court, Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Oestericher argued there was nothing wrong with White House staff compiling advertisements to inform the public about the president’s policies and rebut attacks on them. The plaintiffs countered that the adverts do not help the public benefit from specific government programmes, and that Congress did not appropriate funds to the president’s office “to run a PR shop to help the President’s allies and attack his perceived ideological opponents”.
Trump had previously said his super PAC would pay for the adverts instead, after backlash over the use of taxpayer money. The campaign is reported to have cost around $20 million, with funds shifted from the Department of Homeland Security.
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis criticised the ruling, calling Rochon a “Biden-appointed activist judge” who had issued a “lawless order”. Rochon was nominated to the court by then-President Joe Biden and once clerked for Trump’s sister, the late judge Maryanne Trump Barry.
Issuing the order on a Friday afternoon, Rochon said the government would have no excuse to delay taking the adverts down immediately. A government lawyer acknowledged he could notify those responsible at once. The judge added that she could reverse herself and restore the adverts, or ban additional ones, after hearing more evidence in the coming weeks.
Sources: Associated Press (https://www.byteseu.com/2486720/); Campaign Legal Center (https://campaignlegal.org/update/campaign-legal-center-action-and-partners-successfully-halt-president-trumps-illegal).
