FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 6, 2025
Contact:
Tim Whitehouse (240) 247-0299 [email protected]
Trump Shutdown Messaging Is Illegal Propaganda
Criminal Prosecution for Misuse of Funds Unlikely by Partisan DOJ
Washington, DC — After the government shutdown, federal agencies have been posting pronouncements, issuing statements, and even altering furloughed employees’ email away messages to blame Democrats or the “Radical Left in Congress” for the shutdown and urge passage of the stalemated Republican version of a budget bill. Those actions constitute illegal use of taxpayer dollars for partisan and propaganda purposes, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
The federal penal code (18 U.S. Code § 1913) states that “No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress” may “be used directly or indirectly to pay for any… letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to… favor, adopt, or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation…” This represents a ban on “indirect lobbying” which is the use of funds to persuade voters to pressure Congress to act.
In addition, Congress has included in every recent funding bill a proviso that “No part of any appropriation . . . shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes.” Over the past 50 years of construing the provision, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has separated “publicity or propaganda” into three types of inappropriate activity: 1) “self-aggrandizement,” 2) “purely partisan purposes,” and 3) “covert propaganda.” The recent agency messaging includes all three.
“Federal agencies are not supposed to use our tax dollars for propaganda or politicking,” stated PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse, a former federal senior enforcement attorney, arguing that the partisan messages serve no legitimate official purpose. “The misuse of appropriated funds during an appropriations shortfall is doubly outrageous.”
The policy behind these bans is to prevent agencies from engaging in “grassroots” or indirect lobbying – publishing material designed to generate public pressure on Members of Congress to act. In addition, Congress does not want its appropriations to be directed back against itself or as a form of political campaigning.
These prohibitions carry punishments ranging from disciplinary action to criminal prosecution. For example, communications found by GAO to be propaganda or partisan are treated as a violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act, carrying a civil fine of between $10,000 and $100,000 for “for each such expenditure.” However, it is highly unlikely the current Department of Justice will prosecute officials within the Trump administration no matter how flagrant the violation.
“Each week, it is becoming harder to distinguish federal agency official statements from Truth Social,” added Whitehouse, referring to Trump’s social media platform. “Without any legal deterrence, the propagandistic nature of federal communications will only become more pronounced with each passing month.”
###
See examples of federal agency statements blaming Democrats:
Read the full text of 18 U.S. Code § 1913
Look at appropriations ban on funds for publicity or self-aggrandizement
