A new report on the findings from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis majority staff’s investigation of the administration of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program by the United States Department of Agriculture finds that – surprise! – the Trump Administration managed the emergency food aid program as corruptly and incompetently as you’d expect, plus they improperly politicized it too with a stupid letter from Trump in the boxes. Lowlights include:
“The Trump Administration awarded a contract worth $39 million to CRE8AD8,LLC, a company focused on wedding and event planning without significant food distribution experience, and whose owner reportedly compared coordinating the Program to his usual work of ‘stuffing little tchotchkes into bags.’ CRE8AD8 was ultimately paid $31.5 million of this contract”
“The Trump Administration reimbursed Yegg [another vendor] for more than $2.85 million worth of milk and dairy boxes purportedly delivered to ‘Helping Feet,’ a nonprofit operated by the wife of the company’s CEO, who was also Yegg’s majority shareholder.”
“The Trump Administration deployed taxpayer dollars to include a letter signed by President Trump in food boxes. Nonprofit organizations distributing the boxes informed Select Subcommittee staff that the letters, in which President Trump credited himself for the program, created frustration among the people they served. President Trump announced an extension of the Food Box Program at an official event that coincided with the opening of the Republican National Convention. At that event, Secretary Perdue engaged in overt political activity in support of President Trump’s campaign subsequently found by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to constitute a violation of the Hatch Act”
Read more at the subcommittee’s website.