Democrats sue Trump over taxpayer-funded TV ads praising him

By Jan Wolfe and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Democratic Party officials sued US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, seeking a court order blocking his administration from using ‌taxpayer money to pay for election-related TV ads.

The lawsuit, filed by the Democratic National ‌Committee in federal court in Washington, accused Trump of a "blatant violation of the statutory ban on the use of appropriations ​for 'publicity or propaganda purposes.'"

Taxpayer-funded television ads glorifying Trump began airing in late September, sparking a bipartisan backlash.

A separate suit was filed in New York on Wednesday seeking a court order to block the taxpayer-funded ads. The suit says "these ads are not public-service announcements -- they are personal publicity and political propaganda through ‌and through." The plaintiffs are ⁠watchdog group Common Cause, a public employee union and a candidate for Alabama state representative.

In a post on his Truth Social site on Monday, Trump said ⁠he considered the ads to be "a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A." but that they would no longer be funded by taxpayers. The White House said this week his MAGA PAC would fund the ads.

The ​DNC, ​the main governing organization of the Democratic Party, said ​in its lawsuit that the ads continued ‌to air after Trump's comments.

"With less than 30 days remaining before the midterm election and millions of public dollars apportioned to pay for propaganda ads still unspent, the DNC has no choice but to take action in defense of free and fair elections," the lawsuit stated.

The ads ran during football games as recently as Sunday and during other programming. The New York Times reported that ‌Trump personally directed the White House budget director to ​use taxpayer money for the TV spots, citing sources.

One ad ​features Trump declaring that "America will never be ​a communist country" while a chorus repeats the words "love me." Another combines ‌images of Mount Rushmore with footage of Trump ​praising a "golden age of ​America."

Another new ad recently has featured ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. A source briefed on the matter told Reuters the government-funded ads will end this week.

The White House said Trump's ​political action committee will not ‌reimburse taxpayers for the ads that have run to date.

The ads end with a ​disclaimer saying they were paid for by the US government.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; additional ​reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio)