Rep. Katie Porter: Taxpayers Deserve Transparency Over PPP Fund Distribution | The Last Word | MSNBC

More than a half-trillion dollars have been dispersed to small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program, but Trump administration officials refuse to disclose who’s receiving the funds or the size of the funds. Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) says Americans deserve to know where taxpayer money is going, adding “the size of the program demands transparency that matches.” Aired on 6/16/2020.
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Rep. Katie Porter: Taxpayers Deserve Transparency Over PPP Fund Distribution | The Last Word | MSNBC

64 comments

  1. 500 billion dollars that became 5 trillion dollars to be used as a 10% down payment on 50 trillion dollars of upcoming Trump covid-19 pandemic real estate foreclosures in the biggest transfer off wealth from middle and poor class to the wealthy. is that what you mean?

    1. And we couldn’t have healthcare for all American citizens because it would cost TRILLIONS of dollars.
      They weren’t lying were they? 🙀

    1. @John Winslow I agree she would, but the American people need her more in a leadership role in the House for the next four years than the White House.

  2. Um….yes, we should be told where the money went. We Americans deserve to know. This is OUR country, our United States. This is not just the country of Trump, Inc., although he would like to believe it is.

    1. @NDW 100 Anyway, back to the actual issue. Where has the money gone? She is right, its taxpayers money so it should be accounted for.The fact that he promised transparency and now will not provide it is alarming. Surely to clear up any accusations, you would think he would rush to release this information. I simply cannot understand how you support a president thinks anything other than MY country, MY United States.

  3. Transparency? lol this is Trump. He believes only in backroom deals with friends, family and bootlickers.

    1. @Thr33D3vil
      Cuz all democrats are the minions of evil, youre nothing but brimstone casket bait

    2. @Dave Ponsford
      All the lies are msnbc serpent brainwashing disinformants, youre the played out sucker

    3. @Wigg Licker if being a traitor is getting trump into prison, yes then you are correct

    4. @Larrygilbertreyes Reyes
      For what msnbc fabricated lies? How long you been running with Hillarys Russian collusion lie, Pumpkin?

    1. Joel J : It’s Donny’s Tax Returns, all over again. I, “get the sense that they know,” what’s coming. Donny will be hiding in Russia, when his Immunity ends

  4. Rep. Katie Porter should NOT have to fight this fight alone. Call or write your representatives and demand that Mnuchin hand over the data that Rep. Porter is requesting.

    Rep. Katie Porter is fighting for us. Help her, help us.

    1. Call call email email demand this info from your reps!!! 🌊🗳🌊🗳🌊🗳🌊🌊🗳🌊🗳🗳🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

    2. The number for the Capitol Switchboard is 202-225-3121
      Just ask to be connected to your congressional rep’s DC office. Or you can call them at their local office in your state.

  5. Taxpayer dollars are being shelled out by this administration with no oversight? I have worked full time for almost 40 years paying in everything needed. We should all expect transparency and accountability from this administration. It doesn’t matter your political affiliation.

  6. Just take a look at how Trump ran his fake charity foundation. It should give you a good idea of what happened to a lot of that taxpayer money.
    Trump is a career criminal, masquerading as a president.

    November of last year, Trump was ordered by a judge to pay $2 million in damages for illegally using funds intended for charity to boost his 2016 presidential election campaign.

    Trump had to admit to personally misusing charity money, according to the New York’s attorney general office, despite having previously denied any wrongdoing. The fine adds to several other investigations into allegations that he is using public office for self-enrichment.

    The lawsuit last year states that Trump, and his three money grubbing useless children – Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric – broke campaign finance laws in 2016 by using Trump Foundation’s tax-exempt status “as little more than a checkbook to serve Trump’s business and political interests.

    Trump and his talentless children, had violated their fiduciary duties as officers and directors of the now-shuttered Trump Foundation. As a result of that failure, charitable dollars — consistently and over many years — often benefited Trump rather than the causes he repeatedly claimed he supports.

    There was “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation – including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more,” the suit claimed.

    In the agreements, Trump admitted to misusing funds from the foundation, which he dissolved last year, including to pay for a portrait himself that cost $10,000. He also agreed to pay back $11,525 he spent on sports memorabilia and champagne at a charity gala.
    Trump also directed the foundation to use money for charity to buy a Tim Tebow helmet for himself, and to settle a couple of lawsuits.

    Trump also admitted in the agreements to directing that $100,000 in foundation money be used to settle legal claims over an 80-foot flagpole he had built at his Mar-a-Lago resort, instead of paying the expense out of his own pocket.

    The biggest donation that Trump’s fake foundation ever gave appears to have been to contribute $264,632 to fixing a fountain outside of the Plaza Hotel, which he owned at the time. “It shows you what this “foundation” was all about. Which was basically all about advancing Trump’s interests,” said Brian Galle, a professor of tax law at Georgetown University.

    In addition, the charity foundation paid $158,000 to resolve a lawsuit over a prize for a hole-in-one contest at a Trump-owned golf course, and $5,000 for ads promoting Trump’s hotels in the programs for charitable events. Trump admitted these transactions were also improper.
    But let’s be honest, what Trump did wasn’t just improper, it was downright criminal and reprehensible.

    Trump Iowa rally, Jan 9 2016.
    Trump: “My whole life I’ve been greedy, greedy, greedy. I’ve grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy. Now, I’ll tell you, I’m good at that – so, you know, I’ve always taken in money. I like money. I’m very greedy. I’m a greedy person. I shouldn’t tell you that, I’m a greedy – I’ve always been greedy. I love money, right?”

    1. It beats me how somebody who has admitted to so much wrongdoing can’t be prosecuted, just because he’s “president”.
      In any other democracy, that wouldn’t be an inhibition.
      But maybe that’s because those places have proper constitutions and oversight of politicians.

    2. Wow he’s worse than I thought, and thought really bad about his pilfering but I thought he would just pilfer from us tax payers, but his charity also wow what a POS

    3. David J

      His children are without talent?
      Now hold on there…

      Ivanka can make an impressive word salad.

    4. Another classic example of how much of a total screw-up he actually is.
      Trump was Inaugurated Jan 20th 2017, a Federal Judge finalized the Trump University settlement at $25 Million just under 1 year and 3 months later on April 10th, 2018.

  7. But wait, it gets worse…
    The Trump criminal organization is pushing back against a proposed provision that would require the Secret Service to disclose how much it’s spending on Trump’s golf trips to his resorts.

    Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is battling with Dem senators in negotiations over legislation that would move the Secret Service back to the Treasury Department, where it was first housed before moving to the DHS.

    The legislation is set to include a stipulation that the Secret Service disclose on a semiannual basis the amount being spent on presidential travel for the president and his adult children. “Mnuchin came to me last year with a proposal to move the Secret Service to the Treasury Department,” Sen Feinstein said in a statement. “As part of that effort, I proposed that the cost of presidential travel be included for greater transparency, accountability and oversight associated with protection during travel of presidents and their families.”

    Mnuchin agreed to the financial disclosure provision, but like a true Trump sycophant, Mnuchin is against the 120-day requirement, and instead wants to hold off on revealing the cost of the president’s trips until after the election. 😲

    That’s like a used car salesman telling you that he will tell you the past mechanical problems of a car, but only after you’ve purchased it from him.

    The Secret Service is required to report semiannually the cost of protecting Trump’s Children of the Corn, or non-White House residence, the Trump criminal organization failed to do so in either 2016 or 2017.  The White House also dodged questions from the Government Accountability Office about the issue for two years, after the GAO sought information on the cost of Trump’s travel to Mar-a-Lago.

    Trump spent one out of every five days on one his golf course last year. The GAO found that Trump’s first four trips to Mar-a-Lago in 2017 cost the Secret Service $1.3 million per trip (and $3.4 million in total government spending), and the Secret Service requested $60 million in additional funding in 2017. Federal charge card expenditures revealed the Secret Service also spent at least $250,000 at Trump properties in just the first five months of Trump’s term alone, and the agency has paid a king’s ransom for golf carts on Trump’s golf outings, spending $588,000 on golf carts since 2017. The GAO report found that Trump’s sons Uday and Qusay’s travel to Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, and the UAE in 2017 cost the Secret Service $396,000 in total—and they’ve done plenty of traveling since.

    Trump has spent nearly a third of his “presidency” at his properties. The GAO report reports that the Secret Service may have spent as much as $28 million JUST on Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago by now. But that would be still just a fraction of his total travel costs. President Obama—whom Trump criticized for golfing too much—cost the government $96.9 million over 8 years with his travel, for comparison. So far Trump’s golfing has cost American taxpayers more than 102 million dollars in just 3 years. Taxpayers have paid at least 81 million for Trump play on his golf course in FL, 17 million for Trump to play on his golf courses in NJ, 1 million for Trump to play on his golf courses in Los Angeles, and 3 million for Trump to play on his golf course in Scotland. And to add insult to injury, Trump is pocketing millions of taxpayer dollars from accommodations, lodging, and rental fees. The more trips to his properties, the more money he makes.

    1. But wait, lets talk about serpent demon people posing as human gutting the nation for full beast system Demonic tyranny

    2. The Secret Service has to protect Donny’s adult sons?
      Surely the agreement was that they would run the crime syndicate while he despoiled the office of president.
      So why do they get protection?
      I can understand Barron coming under their watch because he’s a child, but Fiddle Dee and Dribble Dumb?

    3. @NDW 100 Why? It’s the truth… Your President is bilking you for millions of your hard earned dollars…

  8. It’s not the first time Trump took money out of a fund for himself. 9/11 Trump walked around boasting that none of his businesses had been affected. Next, he hears about a Charity fund that was set up to give help for those affected. He applied for and received about $ 250,000
    TWO HUNRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS
    The fund had been set up so quickly it didn’t have time to do all the usual checks. They certainly came later. Effectively Trump stole the money. He lied to get it.
    It’s all on YouTube Wayne Barrett is the man who had all the answers about Trump. Please take a look at Wayne Barrett’s videos. Hugely important in any upcoming court case.

    1. Hands up anyone who didn’t know that in 2016.
      Oh dear, that was enough people to swing the Electoral College in three states.

    2. and the American people watch quietly and wait to vote him out.
      I frankly do not understand how intelligent people can be taken on such a ride!

    1. If that is true, then not being able to remove a corrupt President shows that the entire political SYSTEM is bad. Maybe the next election will not be needed as King Donald the First will rute The United States of Trump

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