Trump says he will stop using taxpayer funds for self-promoting ads after backlash – US politics live

President Donald Trump declared he would no longer utilize taxpayer funds for promotional commercials, following a backlash over the issue. He maintained that the ads were "positive promotion for our Great USA." The Trump administration had previously come under scrutiny for allegedly employing taxpayer money to broadcast TV ads endorsing him just five weeks before the US midterm elections.

Two Democratic congressmen, Jamie Raskin from Maryland and George Whitesides from California, had requested an investigation into these claims from federal watchdogs.

Trump appeared to be in a poor state, having seen his approval rating plummet to a record low of 32%. As he traveled to Nebraska for a campaign stop for a Republican senator, the controversy surrounding the ads was a topic of discussion. Meanwhile, the state of Pennsylvania found itself grappling with the largest measles outbreak in the country, with over 1,000 cases reported in 2022. Governor Kathy Hochul of New York had declared a disaster emergency due to a measles outbreak in her state as well.

Politico was denied access to travel on Air Force One during Trump's visit to Nebraska, according to a CNN report. This restriction followed a similar denial to CNN, Politico, and MSNBC, despite a federal judge temporarily blocking Trump's broader ban on these networks from the White House. Karoline Leavitt, who had served as White House press secretary for a brief period and was the youngest to hold the position, departed from the administration in August to join Fox News as an on-air contributor.

Leavitt, who is 29 and the youngest press secretary in White House history, left her role following the birth of her second child earlier that year.