Ex-ethics official explains why Trump’s ‘weird propaganda video’ may have been illegal in 3 different ways

President Donald Trump has been criticized in numerous media outlets for the weeks he spent downplaying the dangers that the coronavirus pandemic posed for the United States. But when Trump held a coronavirus-related press conference on Monday, he showed journalists a video making the ludicrous claim that it was the mainstream media — not Trump — who downplayed COVID-19’s severity.

And according to attorney Walter Shaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, the video “may have violated a legal prohibition against using appropriated funds for the dissemination of unauthorized publicity or propaganda.”

In an article for the website of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Shaub writes, “The video, which had the feel of a campaign ad, prompted stunned reactions on social media and among news outlets. It opened by falsely characterizing media outlets as having downplayed the pandemic ‘WHILE PRESIDENT TRUMP TOOK DECISIVE ACTION.’ The capital letters in this statement appeared in the video. It also featured selected clips of President Trump and set them to dramatic music.” Continue reading.