Trump says taxpayers will no longer fund TV ads that praise him

Move comes after ethics experts criticised three nationally broadcast ads and called for independent investigations.United States President Donald Trump has said he will stop using taxpayer funds for television s featuring him after widespread criticism of the campaign-style spots.In a post on his social media site on Monday, Trump defended the s, which cost at least $1.5m in federal funds and were aired ahead of the US November midterm elections.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Trump’s approval hits new low among Hispanic voters ahead of midtermslist 2 of 4Trump officials pursue record number of cases to strip US citizenshiplist 3 of 4Mexico seeks evidence of border shooting that prompted US troop deploymentlist 4 of 4Trump blames Democrats and Ukraine for soaring US fuel prices, not Iran warend of listTrump said he considered the s to be “a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A.”, but that they would no longer be funded by taxpayers but by either him or his MAGA PAC,MAGA Inc. is Trump’s political war chest and had amassed more than $400m by the end of July.The announcement came as ethics experts and lawmakers from both ⁠parties have criticised the three nationally broadcast s and called for independent investigations.The s have run during football games as recently as Sunday and during other programming.One 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”.The s end with a disclaimer saying they were paid for by the US government.Democratic lawmakers said last month that the White House transferred $20m in Homeland Security Department funds to air ⁠the s, including one that closely resembles a 2024 Trump ⁠campaign ad, and sought independent probes.California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday called ‌for an independent investigation, calling it a “staggering misuse of public funding and breach of public trust” after the calls for a probe.