A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has blocked the Trump administration from airing a $20 million television advertising campaign praising President Donald Trump, in a ruling delivered on Wednesday, 28 October 2026 — six days before the US midterm elections on Tuesday, 3 November.
US District Judge Loren L. AliKhan granted the Democratic National Committee a temporary restraining order in DNC v. Trump, No. 26-cv-3506. The order pauses the White House Office of Management and Budget’s approval of $20 million for the ads, and bars OMB and the Department of Homeland Security from developing and airing the challenged ads, including through authorised third parties.
The money trail set out by the court is central to the story. OMB approved an extra $20 million on the evening of September 19, about an hour and a half after DHS asked for it. DHS issued a $20 million purchase order to an advertising agency the next day, drawing on border-enforcement money from the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” By October 11, about $19 million in airtime had been bought. The ads, with titles including “Final Battle” and “Mount Rushmore,” praised President Trump and began airing on September 23.
On October 5, Trump said his super PAC, MAGA Inc., would pay for the ads instead. The judge found that promise unfulfilled: the ads kept running with a “Paid for by the U.S. Government” tag on October 6, 7, 11 and 12. AliKhan wrote: “This sequence of events gives the court reason to doubt Defendants’ assurances that the same injury will not recur.”
This is the second federal block on the campaign. A New York federal judge, Jennifer Rochon, in a Common Cause case, had already barred steps to air the ads or spend more public money on them through November 15, after the midterms. AliKhan’s order lasts 14 days, through about November 11. The administration must file a compliance report by October 30, and both sides must propose a schedule for a longer-term injunction by November 2. Four other DNC-challenged ads that have not aired are not yet covered.
Two points need care. The DNC’s description of the ads as “propaganda” is the committee’s characterisation, and the judge’s preliminary finding that officials “likely used public dollars to unlawfully finance” the campaign is not a final ruling that the spending was unlawful — that is what the injunction litigation will decide. No White House response was found in the initial court reporting as of Wednesday afternoon.
Sources: Workers Rights News, 28 Oct 2026, 14:18 EDT; Bloomberg Government, 28 Oct 2026, 15:21 EDT.
