00:00It's Benzinga bringing Wall Street to Main Street
00:02The Trump administration used federal funds from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to
00:06pay for pro-Trump television advertisements that began airing last week, according to
00:10The Wall Street Journal.
00:11President Trump personally pushed for the ads and was involved in their creation, which
00:15the White House called public service announcements focused on patriotism.
00:19The ads cost an estimated $337,000 for nearly 90 national television airings, according
00:25to ad tracking firm eyespot.tv. An estimated $1.4 million was spent on 2,311 local television
00:33airings, according to a modeled estimate from Ad Impact. Critics, including Democratic lawmakers
00:37and some Republicans, have questioned whether using taxpayer money for the ads is legal.
00:42DHS previously faced scrutiny over a more than $200 million ad campaign featuring Kristi
00:47Noem, which ultimately contributed to her ouster after she suggested Trump had approved.
00:52For all things money, visit Benzinga.com.
