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31 Mar, 7 tweets, 2 min read
From the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Trump administration gave special treatment to private companies.

In the last year, journalists and watchdog groups have investigated these missteps.

Here’s what we’ve learned so far.
americanoversight.org/one-year-of-th…
The Washington Post reported that Wellshire Financial Services — a title-lending company owned by major Trump donor Rod Aycox — received a $25 million low-interest loan from the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending program.
washingtonpost.com/business/2020/…
Wellshire exploited a loophole to secure the funds, since the program’s rules prohibit such lenders from accessing the aid.
We obtained documents containing top White House officials’ communications with private companies, illustrating how private-sector representatives had easy access to White House officials, seemingly without having to go through more formal channels.
americanoversight.org/in-the-documen…
We also received documents that showed communications between private companies and top health officials at the CDC and HHS.
americanoversight.org/document/hhs-c…
In one conversation, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen emailed then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar to pitch a company that had conducted DNA testing of immigrants at the border, writing that it could assist with Covid-19 testing.
americanoversight.org/in-march-2020-…
The devastating effects of the Trump administration’s multiple failures in addressing the pandemic will be felt for years. To learn more about the Trump administration’s pandemic response, visit our Oversight Tracker or read more about our investigations.
americanoversight.org/oversight-trac…

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More from @weareoversight

American Oversight Profile picture
2 Apr
As of March 2021, at least 388,000 incarcerated people have contracted Covid-19, more than one in every five people in U.S. prisons.

Here’s what we’ve uncovered in the past year about the coronavirus pandemic in prisons. #FOIAFriday
americanoversight.org/one-year-of-th… Image
We obtained documents showing that the Bureau of Prisons was slow to adopt key hygienic measures in the early months of the pandemic. The records included a March 2020 complaint that management at one facility refused to provide cleaning supplies to staff.
americanoversight.org/bureau-of-pris… Image
The records also reflect the lack of awareness of how much the coronavirus had already spread in the early months of 2020.
Read 18 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
2 Apr
It’s been a week since Gov. Brian Kemp signed Georgia’s restrictive new voting law, which among other measures that make voting harder, imposes stricter ID requirements for absentee voting and limits ballot drop boxes.
americanoversight.org/news-roundup-g…
On Wednesday, after a campaign by prominent Black business executives called upon companies to oppose the law, the CEO of Delta Air Lines issued a statement calling the restrictions “unacceptable” & “based on a lie” about widespread voter fraud.
ajc.com/news/business/…
The head of Coca-Cola, another Georgia company, said the company did not support the legislation.

But the legislation, of course, has already been signed, and troubling new restrictions are still circulating in the legislatures of other states.
Read 4 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
1 Apr
Last week, as millions more Americans received a coronavirus vaccine, 816 people in prison contracted Covid-19.

We received more documents from the Federal Bureau of Prisons that provide further details about the BOP’s early pandemic response.
americanoversight.org/bureau-of-pris…
The documents show that BOP officials relied on inadequate mitigation measures, including conducting limited testing and relying on guidance that allowed groups to gather in person, even while demonstrating an understanding of asymptomatic transmission.
In March 2020, BOP Medical Director Jeffery Allen wrote: “It appears that the symptoms are not as simple as originally described, as you point out...it appears that many people are contagious for at least several days before they become symptomatic.”
documentcloud.org/documents/2053… Image
Read 10 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
31 Mar
The Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program was created to support small and medium-sized businesses. Recent reports by @Public_Citizen suggest that the MSLP didn’t prioritize companies facing the greatest financial need.
americanoversight.org/new-report-fro…
In one report, Public Citizen found that the MSLP failed to fully meet two of its primary goals: to support businesses that most needed loans during the pandemic and to prioritize job retention.
citizen.org/wp-content/upl…
Public Citizen also found that more than $1.8 billion in loans went to companies that laid off workers during the spring and summer of 2020.
Read 4 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
30 Mar
Nearly a year after the passage of the CARES Act, the Oversight Commission for the relief funds still doesn’t have a chair, yet another impediment to oversight of the federal government’s pandemic response.
thedailybeast.com/the-bipartisan…
“Even successful parts of the rescue packages from last year are opaque and difficult to track by the government and by outsiders, making it difficult to understand whether taxpayer dollars were spent properly and against what standards,” said our Austin Evers.
“If a new pandemic hits tomorrow, I’m not sure what lessons we could quickly glean from the last year to come up with a new CARES Act,” said Evers. “That to me should be our North Star right now.”
Read 4 tweets
American Oversight Profile picture
30 Mar
From the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Trump admin. interfered with key decisions at the nation’s top scientific agencies.

Here’s what journalists, watchdogs, & oversight agencies have uncovered about the politicization of science agencies.
americanoversight.org/one-year-of-th…
Last fall, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released a majority staff analysis in October that found at least 47 separate incidents of political interference in the administration’s response spanning February through September 2020.
coronavirus.house.gov/sites/democrat…
The report noted that these incidents impacted every major facet of the public health response and were increasing in number and severity as the presidential election drew nearer.
Read 5 tweets

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