1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

Open a formal investigation into the White House's taxpayer-funded ad campaign before the midterms. The government has spent over $1.2 million on spots that are, by any honest reading, Trump campaign ads with the disclaimer swapped out. One of them, "Final Battle," is a near-identical copy of an ad that previously carried a campaign logo and asked viewers to join Trump's campaign. That's not a public service announcement. That's a campaign contribution billed to the Treasury. This isn't a partisan complaint. Sen. John Kennedy said no public official "should spend public money on private ads for themselves." Sen. Thom Tillis compared it to Viktor Orbán. Rep. Thomas Massie called it something done "in banana republics." When those three agree, there's no excuse for inaction. Public Citizen has already filed complaints with GAO and the Office of Special Counsel citing the federal propaganda ban, the Hatch Act, and 5 U.S.C. §3107. Congress needs to move now: formally request a GAO ruling, send preservation letters to the White House and all vendors, and demand a full accounting of who approved these ads, who produced them, and whether any payments went to Trump campaign-affiliated entities.