Media Matters raked in as much as $2 million in coronavirus
relief loans as the left-wing blog slammed the Trump
administration’s coronavirus response, according to federal records
released on Monday.
Records show that Media Matters, the progressive activist group
founded by Clinton loyalist David Brock in 2004, received between
$1 million and $2 million from the government’s Paycheck
Protection Program. The loan represents a significant portion of
the group’s annual income, which was listed as $11 million in
2017, according to tax records. Media Matters isbankrolled by
the Democracy Alliance, one of the largest progressive donor groups
in the country. The deep-pocketed philanthropy network has steered
hundreds of millions of dollars to liberal groups since it was
founded in 2005—and pledged to distribute $100
million in 2020 alone.
Their million-dollar loan was much larger than the average PPP
loan. The average loan size for businesses during the first round
of funding that ended in April was $200,000, according to reports.
The average for the second round of funding, which ended in late
May, was $114,000.
Media Matters’s successful loan application has not stopped it
from continuing to criticize Trump’s coronavirus policies.
“[T]hough Trump is set to ask Congress for emergency funds to
fight the novel coronavirus outbreak—after weeks of failing to do
so—some public health officials say he won’t ask for enough to
do the job,” Media Matters argued in late February, before
receiving a PPP loan.
American Bridge 21st Century, a political action committee also
founded by Brock that shares the same address as Media Matters, has
attacked the administration for allegedly neglecting to provide
loans to small businesses through the Paycheck Protection
Program.
The group posted a Twitter message suggesting that Trump was
directly responsible for the failure to provide “PPP Funds for
Small Businesses” in late May.
“As indicated by the SBA, Media Matters received a PPP loan in
the $1-2M range,” Media Matters communications director Laura
Keiter said. “Media Matters and American Bridge are two distinct
organizations.”
Another Media Matters article claimed that Trump “is ignorant,
incompetent, and generally uninterested in the aspects of his job
that don’t involve promoting his narrow personal interests. His
response to coronavirus has not diverged from this baseline.”
“He spent the last few years systematically dismantling U.S.
pandemic response capabilities, dissolving the National Security
Council’s global health security unit and slashing funding to the
CDC’s global health section,” claimed the group. “And since the
coronavirus outbreak began, Trump has been largely detached from
managing the government’s response.”
The post
Media Matters Takes Millions In PPP Aid While Criticizing Trump
Coronavirus Response appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
