Sen. Adam Schiff‘s (D-CA) office released an oversight report alleging the Trump administration has misused thousands of taxpayer dollars on Trump-related banners on federal buildings in Washington.
Schiff’s report says the Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Labor departments were each contracted to construct and display massive posters with portraits of President Donald Trump or sayings related to his agenda on the exterior of their headquarters.
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“In the span of four months, three federal departments have contracted to create enormous political banners,” the oversight report reads. “A review of contracting documents indicates that the signs are being made at the public’s expense, with the first three signs costing at least $50,000 in taxpayer funds and the full cost yet to be determined.”
Two of the contracts put a portrait of Trump on the exterior of the Agriculture and Labor department buildings, while the third contract is set to put an 88-foot sign promoting HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” slogan, the report says.
Schiff’s report said the banners fall under “propaganda.” It concluded that appropriated funds should not be used for them, as the current Senate appropriations law prohibits using federal funds for “publicity or propaganda purposes.”
“This pattern of contracts suggests an unprecedented and coordinated effort by the Executive Branch to use federal funds to glorify and pay tribute to a sitting U.S. President and his political agenda, despite a longstanding legal prohibition against the use of federal funds for propaganda and self-aggrandizement purposes,” Schiff’s report reads.
The report clarifies that “although the statutes do not define propaganda, prior prohibited uses of funds have been classified as self-aggrandizement, purely partisan materials, or covert propaganda.”
The contracted federal appropriations funds used for the three agencies’ banners amount to over $55,000. HHS awarded a $33,760 contract to a small business in Texas for the “Make America Healthy Again” banner in August, according to the report.
The White House did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
Trump has previously called Schiff a “scam artist” on Truth Social.
Schiff is currently under investigation by Trump’s Department of Justice over allegations of mortgage fraud, along with other prominent officials such as New York Attorney General Letitia James and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
“CROOKED Adam Schiff (now a Senator) needs to be brought to justice,” Trump said in the same Truth Social post.
Schiff has denied the allegations and said mortgage fraud is the Trump administration’s “new weapon to go after their critics.”