One ad, set to music repeating the words "love me," shows Trump saying "America will never be a communist country" while phrases like "largest tax cuts in history" flash across the screen. The spot aired on national network television over the weekend, including during CBS's "Face the Nation," according to CNBC.
The ads are expanding their reach as the election nears, and that expansion is what triggered the scrutiny. Federal restrictions limit how taxpayer money can be used for what critics call propaganda. Lawmakers from both parties are now questioning whether the campaign crosses that line, since it airs on the same networks and in the same slots as ordinary campaign advertising.
For viewers, the ads look and sound like campaign material, but the bill goes to taxpayers instead of a campaign fund. That distinction is what has drawn attention in Washington as the midterms approach.