If there were actual oversight of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package, a wealthy donor to President Donald Trump’s campaign would not have received a cent from it. But one did just that.
Private jets are far from being an important commodity right now as our nation continues to struggle during the pandemic. Millions of jobs are at risk across the country and thousands of small businesses are at serious risk of shuttering.
But instead of using money from the CARES Act to shore up those businesses and those jobs, the Trump administration awarded $27 million of it to a private jet company whose founder donated the maximum individual amount to Trump’s 2016 campaign.
According to CNBC:
Clay Lacy Aviation, a private jet charter company based in Van Nuys, California, that serves wealthy executives and celebrities, received the government grant as part of the CARES Act, a $2 trillion federal stimulus package aimed at supporting jobs during the coronavirus crisis.
The company appears to have received the largest grant of any private jet company on the list. The vast majority of the other 96 recipients of government funding or loans on the list are major commercial airlines, regional carriers or support companies.”
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Lacy donated $2,700 to Trump’s campaign and $47,000 to the RNC after Trump became the nominee.
A CEO who can afford to donate so much cash to political campaigns and political organizations can certainly afford to keep financially supporting his employees during a crisis.
Even more enraging is the fact that the money does NOT have to be paid back either because it’s a grant, not a loan. So, taxpayers just got screwed over.
“The entire country is hurting during this pandemic,” government corruption watchdog group Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig said in a statement. “But the President decided to award a campaign donor with $27 million in free government money.”
Again, this is why Congress mandated oversight of the relief aid to make sure there are no shady transactions. But Trump ignored that mandate and is clearly handing out money to his donors and friends.
This is rotten to the core, and the American people should demand their money back, especially since the rest of us only received a lousy $1,200 check with Trump’s name on it.
Featured image via screen capture
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