Judge orders Trump admin to stop airing challenged government-funded ads immediately

JUST IN: A federal judge orders the Trump administration to immediately stop airing challenged government-funded ads, which critics have called propaganda aimed at influencing the midterm elections.

A federal judge just pulled the plug on twenty million dollars of government ads, overnight.

Judge Jennifer Rochon in Manhattan ordered the Trump administration to immediately stop airing TV spots funded by the Department of Homeland Security. Critics have a blunter word for them, propaganda, and they say the whole campaign was built to tilt the midterms.

The lawsuit came from Common Cause and a New York branch of the service employees union. Rochon didn't hedge much either. She wrote the plaintiffs are likely to win on the merits, would suffer irreparable harm, and that blocking the ads serves the public interest. The coalition's statement went further, saying there's no precedent for a president using congressional money to influence electoral outcomes for his own agenda.

So taxpayer cash, campaign season, and a court saying stop, right now. The ads are off the air tonight. The fight over who pays for that twenty million is just getting started.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.