'Pure propaganda': Ex-ethics czar condemns US Interior Department for using taxpayer money to create pro-Trump 'campaign ad'

Video posted to DOI's Facebook page 'seems to serve no governmental purpose whatsoever,' former US ethics chief Walter Schaub writes

Government ethics watchdogs are once again sounding alarms that the Trump administration is illegally using taxpayer money to promote the president's re-election campaign, this time harnessing the digital platform of the National Park Service (NPS).

The US Department of the Interior's Facebook page posted a video earlier this month touting sweeping bipartisan legislation signed into law by Donald Trump this summer to help clean up, conserve, and expand the National Parks system.

But the video appears to be little more than a piece of "pure propaganda seemingly aimed at Trump’s re-election," former US ethics czar Walter Schaub wrote in a blog post for the good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

"This National Park Service video seems to serve no governmental purpose whatsoever. It does not advertise a specific park, encourage Americans to visit national parks, describe an agency program, ask the public to take action, or contain educational material. What the video does do — all it does — is promote Trump," wrote Mr Schaub, the senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Centre (CLC) who served as director of the US Office of Government Ethics during the last four years of the Obama administration.

The DOI pushed back on the notion that the video — which a source familiar with its posting process claimed was approved by career ethics officials prior to posting — violated any ethics-related laws.

“It’s unfortunate and sad to see uninformed special interest groups attack the integrity of the Departmental Ethics Office and such a historic and bipartisan legislative achievement that will ensure generations of Americans can enjoy national parks and public lands and Indian school children have better educational opportunities,” the department said in a statement.

The 89-second video — backdropped by a brisk, string-heavy score — weaves together b-roll footage of various US landmarks and the president and First Lady Melania Trump at various NPS events mingling with officials, children, and their families.

"PRESIDENT TRUMP," reads the first text to appear on-screen during the video, shortly after clips of an American flag waving in the breeze and the president and first lady standing in salute for the national anthem in front of Mount Rushmore.

"President Trump called on Congress to protect our national parks and federal lands for our children and grandchildren," the video's text reads, as the frantic string orchestra plays.

The video then goes on to display quotes from various news sources touting the magnitude of the legislation, whose title the video does not even mention.

That would be the Great American Outdoors Act that passed the Democratic-controlled House in July with broad bipartisan support.

The law shovels $9.5bn to the National Park system over the next five years help address a backlog of maintenance issues at locations across the country. It also provides $900m annually to the Land and Water Conservation Fund to help maintain parks and monuments.

The Interior Department video, however, does not tout the legislation, but rather the president's role in bringing it about, a clear violation of appropriations laws prohibiting taxpayer-funded government agencies from using money to engage in unauthorised activities, such as campaign videos for the president, Mr Schaub wrote.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued guidance indicating that unauthorised "publicity or propaganda" that violates these guardrails on how federal agencies can spend taxpayer money falls into three categories: covert communications, self-aggrandizement, and purely partisan activities, Mr Schaub wrote.

The DOI's video touting Mr Trump's role in the new conservation law falls squarely into the self-aggrandizement cateogry, Mr Schaub has argued.

"Federal agencies must not be allowed to create more illegal propaganda videos like this one. Not only is it a misuse of taxpayer money, it seems part of a broader effort by Trump to abuse his power to influence the election," Mr Schaub wrote.