Billionaire hotelier got $126million in small business loans for his companies after hiring Trump-allied lobbyists for $50,000
A luxury hotel chain chairman got $126million in loans from the Small Business Administration (SBA) after spending $50,000 on hiring two lobbyists who are allies of Donald Trump, it has been reported.
A few weeks before the companies received the sum, Monty Bennett hired Jeff Miller, former vice chairman of Trump's inaugural committee, and Roy Bailey, a top fundraiser for the president's re-election campaign, according to the Washington Post.
Bennett is the chairman of the Ashford Hospitality Trust and Braemar Hotels & Resorts boards.
Miller and Bailey are believed to be some of at least 25 people connected to the Trump admin who are currently working as lobbyists for companies with particular interest in the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ashford Inc. and Braemar Hotels & Resorts are chaired by Monty Bennett (left). The companies had Jeff Miller (right) former vice chairman of Trump's inaugural committee, lobbying for them
Roy Bailey is a top fundraiser for the president's reelection campaign. They are pictured with Tina Bailey
Miller is a veteran GOP operative who ran former Texas governor Rick Perry's presidential bid in 2016 and he now works at Brian Ballard's PR and lobbying firm, Ballard Partners, with other Trump administration alumni.
Ballard is a Trump Organization lobbyist and fundraiser.
The Trump alumni includes the former director of legislative affairs for Vice President Pence and the former senior director of Cabinet affairs at the White House.
Bailey is a fundraiser for Trump's re-election campaign.
Ballard's business partner is Pam Bondi – a Florida-based attorney who served as counsel to Trump during his impeachment trial.
Nuclein is the maker of a handheld coronavirus testing device. They paid Ballard $10,000 to lobby Vice President Mike Pence's office and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Nuclein is seeking regulatory clearance from the Food and Drug Administration, according to lobbyist records compiled on a system by the Post and ProPublica.
South Carolina disinfectant, NanoPure, hired Ballard on March 18 to help them get approved by the Environmental Protection Agency as effective against coronavirus.
Nanopure official Scott Alderson confirmed to the Post: 'We are doing everything we can to fast-track its approval and to hopefully save lives.'
'As they move forward at the EPA, we will be assisting them,' Ballard partner Justin Sayfie, said.
Ballard also counts Laundrylux as a client. 'They hired us to assist in being identified by the federal government as an essential-business industry so that people could wash their clothes,' Sayfie told the Post.
A few weeks before the $126million loan, the companies hired two Trump allies. Monty Bennett looks after Ashford Inc and Braemar Hotels & Resorts
Miller is a veteran GOP operative who ran former Texas governor Rick Perry's presidential bid in 2016 and he now works at Brian Ballard's (pictured) PR and lobbying firm, Ballard Partners, with other Trump administration alumni
Ballard's business partner is Pam Bondi – a Florida-based attorney who served as counsel to Trump during his impeachment trial
A week after hiring them, the Department of Homeland Security added laundromat services to the list of essential businesses allowed to remain open.
Laundrylux owner Neal Milch said he was introduced to them by a friend and did not seek them out for their Trump admin connections.
In March, Ballard helped Fidelity National Financial as they sought for document services related to home sales to be added to the list of essential services.
Shannon Flaherty McGahn was a counselor to Mnuchin until January 2018.
McGahn, who is married to former White House counsel Donald McGahn.
The SBA has said that loans are given on a first-come-first-serve basis.
However many small businesses have complained they missed opportunities to receive payouts. Alongside several other big-name brands, Ashford Inc. – chaired by Monty Bennett – was criticized for scooping up loans intended to help lesser-known companies.
Now it has been reported that Bennett's companies may have had help from people who used to work for the president or are closely connected.
DailyMail.com didn't immediately receive a response to a request for comment from Ashford Inc.
'The government is picking winners and losers in industries, so being able to have an understanding of . . . the pulse of this administration and thought patterns, and their processes as to how they got to these decisions years ago, provides help,' a lobbyist and former Trump official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Post.
Shannon McGahn (right) – who was a counselor to Steve Mnuchin until January 2018 and is married to former White House counsel Donald McGahn (left), joined the National Association of Realtors (NAR) later that year. A NAR spokesman said she is working 'to make sure the self-employed, independent contractors and small-business owners are protected and represented on the Hill in any legislative responses to this pandemic'
Disclosures show that Arcturus Therapeutics, a preclinical drug-trial company developing a coronavirus vaccine, paid Barry Bennett's (pictured) lobbying firm, Avenue Strategies $30,000 in the first quarter of 2020. Bennett was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign
Disclosures show that Arcturus Therapeutics, a preclinical drug-trial company developing a coronavirus vaccine, paid Barry Bennett's lobbying firm, Avenue Strategies $30,000 in the first quarter of 2020.
Barry Bennett was a senior adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Bennett told the Post he was hired to develop a 'strategy to communicate with the federal government'. His company has sought information from the HHS and its Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority on behalf as Arcturus plans to start trials of Lunar-Cov19 this summer.
'There are many challenges in the country, but the need hasn't gone away for people to talk to the federal government,' Bennett told the Post about his increase in business since the outbreak.
Shannon McGahn – who was a counselor to Steve Mnuchin until January 2018 and is married to former White House counsel Donald McGahn, joined the National Association of Realtors (NAR) later that year.
As part of its nonpartisan congressional advocacy team, they are lobbying Congress on coronavirus relief issues and real estate small businesses and contractor matters.
NAR spokesman Patrick Newton said they are working 'to make sure the self-employed, independent contractors and small-business owners are protected and represented on the Hill in any legislative responses to this pandemic.'
'Those people retain a lot of influence because they built out the DNA of the executive branch,' Jeff Hauser, founder and director of the Revolving Door Project at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank told the Post.
'It is the policy of the Trump Administration to ensure that all current and former employees comply with obligations under applicable ethics rules,' White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.
Former officials are only prohibited from lobbying their former agency, however they can be lobby another.
An anonymous official said 'we have cautioned' the current employees involved about not continuing communications with lobbyists.
Billionaire hotelier got $126million in small business loans for his companies after hiring Trump-allied lobbyists for $50,000
![Billionaire hotelier got $126million in small business loans for his companies after hiring Trump-allied lobbyists for $50,000]()
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