Donald Trump Flat Out Lied About Use Of 9/11 Funds

Does Donald Trump not realize that when he opens his mouth and tells a lie that unlike the other times in his life, when running for President, people are going to attempt to confirm statements made? He either doesn’t realize it or doesn’t care. Either way, the man seems to be incapable of telling the truth.

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Several months ago, Susan highlighted an ad from an anti-Trump Super PAC:

According to the ad, although Trump’s property was not adversely affected by the events of 9/11, he took advantage of a loophole in the World Trade Center Recovery Grant program.

Trump raked in $150,000 from the grant program that was set up to aid small businesses that were adversely effected by the 9/11 terror attacks.

Naturally, Trump denied malfeasance and said it was all part of him being a swell guy:

“It was probably a reimbursement for the fact that I allowed people, for many months, to stay in the building, use the building and store things in the building. I was happy to do it and to this day I am still being thanked for the many people I helped. The value of what I did was far greater than the money talked about, much of which was sent automatically to building owners in the area.”

It turns out Trump, of course, is full of it. The Daily News obtained documents showing Trump asked for the funds for other reasons, none of which had to do with helping others:

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Records from the Empire State Development Corp., which administered the recovery program, show that Trump’s company asked for those funds for “rent loss,” “cleanup” and “repair” — not to recuperate money lost in helping people.

That government program was designed to help local businesses get back on their feet — not reimburse people for their charitable work.

If Trump’s company had asked for money for that reason it would have been rejected, officials said.

“He’s clearly wrong. I saw him say that and he’s obviously wrong,” said David Catalfamo, a senior adviser to then-Gov. George Pataki, who helped run the program.

“It was not part of the program to give money away for the other ancillary stuff. The way the program worked was to help businesses cover for uninsured losses. Businesses came forward with their losses and we covered part of them.”

Question is, how did Trump even qualify for a program designed to assist small business?

Those documents, exclusively obtained by The News, previously reported that Trump’s organization was one of a number of well-heeled companies that received funds from a state program aimed at helping local businesses whose bottom lines were hurt by the terror attacks.

New York used looser guidelines than the federal government to determine what constitutes a small business — allowing Trump and others like Morgan Stanley and Bank of China to claim taxpayer funds.

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So Trump:

  • Used legal loopholes to take advantage a of a fund designed to assist small businesses
  • Lied, claiming he was reimbursed for expenses incurred being a white knight and helping others.

The key word in his statement of course is, “probably.” That one word gives him an out to claim he’s not sure what the money was for.

Pathetic.

 

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