LEILA FADEL, HOST:
What are the rules for how the federal government can spend taxpayer dollars on TV commercials? The Trump administration rolled out this ad last week.
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JSMN: (Singing) Love me. Love me.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The commercial shows flashing images of President Trump in rapid succession. A headline says, America will never be a communist country. And a song titled "Love Me" plays underneath.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Together, we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America. America will never be a communist country.
FADEL: Other phrases that fill the screen? Largest tax cuts in history. Reigniting American manufacturing. And then, towards the end, a message says, paid for by the U.S. government.
INSKEEP: As of Sunday, AdImpact said the government paid more than $918,000 to air this commercial across the country. Two additional ads have also come out in the last week, including this.
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TRUMP: We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country.
INSKEEP: That's essentially a 2024 Trump campaign ad with an added disclosure that the new version was paid for by taxpayers.
FADEL: Democratic appropriators in the House and Senate sent a letter to the White House calling for the first ad to be pulled. They argue it violates a federal ethics law and an appropriations law, which prevents taxpayer funds from being used to produce government publicity or propaganda.
INSKEEP: Now, on Friday, the White House told NPR, quote, "the announcements are very clearly not campaign ads." We followed up and asked about the repurposing of that 2024 campaign ad. In a new statement, they said the ads are not political. Quote - "President Trump is not on the ballot, and there is no call to action," which is a legal term. The White House added, quote, "these public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country."
FADEL: For more on this, we're joined by Norm Eisen. He served as the White House ethics czar in the Obama administration. He is also a co-founder of the Democracy Defenders Fund. The group has filed numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration, including challenging the Trump administration's efforts to rename and close the Kennedy Center. Good morning, and welcome back to the show.
NORM EISEN: Hi. Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So there are obviously ethical questions here with this ad. Walk me through the legal concerns.
EISEN: Congress does not want your and my and other taxpayers' money being used for political advertisements or other forms of personal or propaganda ads. And for that reason, it has put into law not one, but multiple laws. You cannot run political ads. You cannot run propaganda ads. So these two advertisements are so obviously political, coming in campaign season. One of them is actually a recycle of a political ad. There's no question here. The law is violated.
FADEL: What do you make of the Trump administration's defense that this is allowed because it's not a presidential election, he's not on the ballot and they're not explicitly asking viewers to do anything?
EISEN: Well, it's so ridiculous. Obviously, he's out stumping for candidates. Obviously, his failures to control costs in the United States because of the, in part, corruption scandals where he's taking money out of the pockets of Americans, not to mention abroad, the disastrous Iran war driving gas and diesel prices to the roof - his conduct is central. He's out stumping in the midterms. The timing, the content, the fact that it's an old political ad that's being played again for one of these two is so obviously against the law.
FADEL: Are you considering a lawsuit? Is your group considering a lawsuit?
EISEN: Well, at Democracy Defenders Fund and Democracy Defenders Action, we are not shy, with over 300 legal matters, including some of the landmark wins stopping Donald Trump's illegality. All options are on the table. We worked actively on this through the weekend. Stay tuned.
FADEL: Now, the Trump administration says that other administrations have promoted their own priorities in public service announcements, including in the Obama administration in which you served. How are these ads different?
EISEN: Well (laughter), they're different because those were public service announcements. Sometimes they went a little too far. The Bush administration did an ad touting the advantages for the elderly of some of its healthcare policies, but nothing like this. No one has ever dreamed, because of these laws of doing overt political ads, so that's apples and oranges. I grew up on the Smokey the Bear ads, but Smokey the Bear was never running for office.
FADEL: Now, there are other commercials that have raised concerns. There was an ad from the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae, that came out in January. I just want to listen to it.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: President Donald J. Trump has built a strong economy and is revitalizing the American dream. He will go down as the greatest housing president in history.
TRUMP: America was...
FADEL: Do you see legal or ethical issues with this ad?
EISEN: Well, I never would have approved it when I was the ethics czar in the Obama White House. The same is true with my colleagues from other administrations - Richard Painter - I talked to him about it - in the Bush White House. But the content and the timing of it are different than these ads that are coming now in September as we round to the midterm elections. So it's not a good one, but doesn't raise the same concerns as these overt political ads targeting the midterms.
FADEL: If these ads do violate federal law, what can be done to enforce it?
EISEN: Well, as is so often the case, when Donald Trump oversteps, there's a role for the courts to play, and also the American people. They hate this. He's taking money from them to run these ads. So court of law, court of public opinion.
FADEL: Norm Eisen served as White House ethics czar in the Obama administration. He is also a co-founder of the Democracy Defenders Fund. Thank you for your time.
EISEN: Thank you, Leila.
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