Left scorned all Trump responses to virus except those loans

Analysis by FPI / July 8, 2020

Leftists never miss an opportunity to savage President Donald Trump over his response to the coronavirus.

Joe Biden called Trump's ban on travel from China "xenophobic." Nancy Pelosi mocked the president's concern over the virus by telling her constituents to party in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Democrats and their media allies banded together to make sure a drug, hydroxychloroquine, proven to work in fighting the virus was unavailable. Why? Trump routinely touted the drug's effectiveness.

Privileged celebrities, of course, followed the script and piled on Trump.

Another thing leftists had no problem doing? Taking millions in coronavirus bailout funds from Trump's administration.

On Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin released data from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), revealing that a number of people and businesses linked to those who so thoroughly criticized Trump's coronavirus response have benefited greatly from PPP loans in recent months.

Here's a look at some of them:

Biden campaign donors

The Buccini/Pollin Group (BPG), a Delaware-based real estate developer which operates commercial and residential properties, including more than 40 hotels nationwide, was given a loan ranging between 1 and 2 million dollars from the PPP program on April 3. That same day, another subsidiary, BPG Construction, LLC., was also awarded a loan ranging from 1 to 2 million dollars. A further PPP loan for between $350,000 and $1 million was awarded to BPG Office Associates, LLC., on April 8.

Federal Election Commission records show that one of the companies in BPG’s portfolio of subsidiaries, BPG Real Estate Services, LLC., donated $100,000 to Unite the Country, a pro-Biden super PAC, on December 30, 2019. The contribution came on the same day that BPG’s three principal partners, Robert and Christoper Buccini and David Pollen, each donated around $33,333 to the PAC.

Robert Buccini, as well as another employee of the firm, also donated to Biden’s presidential campaign, with Buccini maxing out to the campaign in two installments of $2,800 each. The last installment came on April 29 of this year, the same month that BPG received its PPP loans, Breitbart News noted.

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, an company based out of Santa Monica, California, received between $150,000 to $350,000 in PPP funds on April 11. The company was founded in 2004 by philanthropist and film producer Sidney Kimmel, whom Forbes estimates has a net worth of $1.3 billion. Kimmel, a longtime Democrat super donor, on March 16 of this year gave $100,000 to Unite the Country. The following day, on March 17, Kimmel donated $2,800 directly to Biden’s presidential campaign.

South Carolina state senator Dick Harpootilan, a longtime Biden supporter, received a PPP loan of $150,000 to $350,000 for his law practice. Apart from donating $2,800 to Biden’s campaign and a further $100,000 to Unite the Country, Harpootilan served as the Biden’s top surrogate in South Carolina ahead of the state’s Democrat primary.

Lobbying firm tied to Hunter Biden

Blue Star Strategies, a lobbying and public relations firm which at one time was hired by Burisma Holdings to help the company push back against allegations of public corruption, received a loan from the PPP program for between $150,000 and $350,000.

Blue Star has been subpoenaed by the Senate Homeland Security Committee as part of an ongoing investigation into Biden and Burisma.

Hunter Biden joined Burisma’s board in April 2014, around the same time his father was tapped to be the Obama administration’s point man on Ukraine.

Company tied to Nancy Pelosi's husband

According to a Bloomberg report, Paul Pelosi is an investor EDI Associates, a firm listed as a recipient of a PPP program loan of between $350,000 and $1 million. The same company was listed in Nancy Pelosi’s latest House financial disclosure report filed in May 2019, for the year 2018.

EDI Associates is listed in Pelosi’s disclosure form as located in Sonoma, California. It’s identified as a limited partnership with an investment in the El Dorado Hotel. The value of the asset on the form — identified as belonging to Pelosi’s spouse — is listed as between $250,001 and $500,000.

Pelosi, the House Speaker, has personally criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the PPP program.

De Niro's Nobu restaurants and hotels

The high-end restaurant and hotel chain Nobu — backed by raging Trump-basher Robert De Niro — took more than a dozen loans from the Trump administration’s Paycheck Protection Program totaling about $28 million.

Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa — the celebrity chef and owner of the restaurant chain — has a net worth of $200 million. Meanwhile, De Niro — who co-founded Nobu — is worth an estimated $500 million, CNBC reported.

The luxury restaurant chain founded by De Niro, Matsuhisa, and film producer Meir Teper, who combined are estimated to have a net worth of roughly $700 million, were one of the largest beneficiaries of the PPP program.

Soros-funded Media Matters

The George Soros-funded leftist nonprofit Media Matters for America received between $1 million and $2 million in loans under the PPP program.

Breitbart News noted that the loans were approved for Media Matters by Bank of America on April 29, after the leftist outlet criticized the Trump administration for its handling of the rescue funds, suggesting the administration would not seek “enough to do the job.”

According to the data released by the Treasury Department, Media Matters received a higher-than-average loan. The average PPP loan is $100,000.

Breitbart News noted that "Critics have pointed to a conflict of interest for groups with political motivations — such as the progressive Media Matters, which has received funding from prominent liberal donors like Soros — pocketing the taxpayer-funded relief money. Media Matters founder David Brock also founded the super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, for example, which funded in key swing states advertisements attacking Trump’s 'incompetency' in his handling of the coronavirus crisis."

The loans provided through the PPP will be forgiven so long as the money is directed toward payroll — with the stipulation that employees are retained or quickly rehired, and salary levels are maintained — and interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities, according to the Small Business Administration.

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