Lawyers challenging the administration’s government-paid Trump advertising campaign say the ads kept running on national television after a federal judge ordered them stopped, according to a letter filed Monday in Manhattan federal court.
The letter, in Common Cause v. Department of Homeland Security, tells U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon that a temporary restraining order took effect immediately at 6:46 p.m. Sunday. Despite that, plaintiffs cite AdImpact data showing nearly 400 spots airing on programs that began at 7 p.m. Eastern that night.
The ad “Final Battle” ran in 193 spots during CBS’s “60 Minutes,” according to the data, and the ad “Maduro” ran in 198 spots during ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” The Washington Post separately reported Monday afternoon that two ads kept airing into the early hours of Monday, including on “ABC World News Tonight.”
The ads didn’t stop Monday either, plaintiffs say. As of 2:45 p.m. Eastern, “Maduro” had aired in 20 spots and “Final Battle” in 11. A third ad, “The Country He Loves,” which hadn’t run since October 6, aired once.
Plaintiffs noted that this came a day after the government insisted its ad buy was no longer in effect. They emailed the government’s lawyers about the developments at 3:32 p.m.
The group isn’t asking the court for contempt sanctions at this stage. It’s requesting a status conference to determine whether the government is complying. The court had ordered the government to file a declaration on its compliance by 6:46 p.m. Monday, and plaintiffs said they didn’t yet know what it would say.
The campaign has drawn scrutiny since the New York Times reported that Trump directed his budget director to find $20 million from Customs and Border Protection to pay for the ads, which carry the tag “Paid for by the U.S. government.” The White House has called them public service announcements.
The government hadn’t responded to the letter in the filing itself.