What better way to hide government funding for abortions from Republicans than to disguise it with the much more palliative word of Benghazi. Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst is urging the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the Biden administration, alleging officials deliberately obscured internal discussions about pandemic-era loans to Planned Parenthood by using the code word “Benghazi” in communications to evade Freedom of Information Act requests and other oversight efforts.
In her letter to the Justice Department, Ernst points to internal messages in which administration officials appear to substitute “Benghazi” — a reference widely recognized as the location of the 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. compound that killed four Americans — as shorthand for COVID-19 relief loans tied to Planned Parenthood.
The Iowa Republican says that Biden’s administration officials may have violated the law by concealing records related to small business loans issued to the organization. According to Ernst, the Small Business Administration distributed and later forgave loans to Planned Parenthood and its affiliates even after determining the group did not qualify as a small business. She further claimed that senior officials, including SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman, masked internal deliberations by replacing references to Planned Parenthood with “Benghazi” in email correspondence.
“We now know that after the SBA Biden officials met, planned and strategized (over ‘Benghazi’), keeping the White House involved, approximately $90 million in Planned Parenthood SBA PPP loans and interest on the loans were forgiven by the Biden administration,” Ernst said.
Ernst called on the Justice Department to examine whether those involved violated a federal statute that carries a penalty of up to three years in prison for knowingly concealing government records. Her letter was first obtained by The Daily Wire.
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Small Business Administration under the Trump administration issued more than $80 million in loans—intended for small businesses—to Planned Parenthood and 38 affiliated entities after they “self-certified” their eligibility.
More than 90 Republican lawmakers later wrote to the agency, arguing that “under the rules of the CARES ACT, a nonprofit that exceeds 500 employees, as Planned Parenthood did, was not a small business and should be deemed ‘disqualified from PPP loans.’” They also noted that SBA rules disqualify entities affiliated with larger organizations from being considered small businesses.
The following month, the SBA notified Planned Parenthood affiliates that they were not eligible for the loans and requested “potential repayment.”
However, Ernst said that by the time President Joe Biden took office in February 2021, the funds had not been recovered. She added that some affiliates went on to receive a second round of payments.
In April 2021, Republican lawmakers sought clarification on “the steps the agency took once Planned Parenthood affiliates were deemed ineligible for SBA loans,” Ernst wrote.
That same month, SBA General Counsel Peggy Hamilton organized a meeting among senior officials using the subject line “Benghazi (PPP/PPH) Decisions,” suggesting the term was being used as a stand-in for Planned Parenthood. The email directed staff to “review loans to nonprofit PPP applicants to decision whether affiliation bars eligibility… WH has been engaged. Need to inform WH as decisions are made.”
In a separate message, Hamilton referenced the terminology explicitly, writing, “Can I schedule a meeting so we can decision Benghazi (Planned Parenthood)?”
“Yes, let’s talk Benghazi,” a colleague responded.
“It strains credulity to think SBA’s General Counsel Peggy Hamilton was doing anything other than hiding her Planned Parenthood records from Congressional and public scrutiny and oversight,” Ernst wrote. “That’s not something she is allowed to do under federal law, and, as a lawyer for almost three decades, she knew that.”
Ernst added that as Republicans continued pressing the SBA for information about Planned Parenthood and “the agency’s overall responsiveness” to congressional inquiries, officials persisted in using the coded language. Among those cited was Arthur Plews, who later became the agency’s chief of staff.