U.S. Senator Jon Ernst (R-Iowa) recently obtained access to Biden-era Small Business Administration communications revealing a "potential cover-up obscuring $90 million in taxpayer funds Biden officials gifted to Planned Parenthood," America's largest abortion provider and a leading supplier of sex-rejection hormones.
According to the pro-life lawmaker, Biden officials at the SBA — allegedly operating under the direction of former top SBA lawyer Peggy Hamilton — used the code word "Benghazi" to refer to discussions of Planned Parenthood and its receipt of forgivable COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program loans in the wake of congressional objections to those very loans and demands for greater transparency.
'Just when we think the Democrats’ extremism can’t get more shocking.'
The use of a wholly unrelated term — the name of the Libyan city where four Americans were savagely murdered by Islamists in 2012 — is believed to have been employed strategically to ensure that future congressional or public record requests wouldn't turn up the relevant and possibly damning documents regarding the funding of Planned Parenthood, a potential violation of the Federal Records Act.
"What does Benghazi have to do with Planned Parenthood? It appears the Biden SBA used it as a code name to hide the $90 million in taxpayer funds they gifted to the abortion provider," Ernst said in a statement on Tuesday.
"This potential cover-up demands answers."
In her letter asking acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to open an investigation into the matter, Ernst raised the possibility that the Biden White House may have been involved in the alleged effort to conceal official federal records and highlighted numerous emails sent by Hamilton in which "Benghazi" appears to have been used as a stand-in for the abortion giant.
In one instance, Hamilton made clear her intended meaning, writing, "Can I schedule a meeting so we can decision Benghazi (Planned Parenthood)?"
"Recipients and respondents in the SBA email chains knew Planned Parenthood was not in or even remotely related to Benghazi, yet by continuing the email chain and scheduling meetings, it appears several Biden political appointees, and some SBA employees, were knowingly concealing or attempting to conceal their records relating to Planned Parenthood," Ernst stated in her letter.
She added, "With the records detailed here, and many more I’ve obtained, perhaps now we know why the Biden administration did not want to share its Planned Parenthood records with Congress."
"Just when we think the Democrats’ extremism can’t get more shocking, we see the lengths they’ll go to in protecting the Big Abortion industry," Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement. "They knew letting Planned Parenthood help itself to taxpayer-funded COVID loans was illegal — so they tried to cover their tracks using, of all things, the national horror of Benghazi."
These revelations come just months after the SBA issued letters to 38 affiliates of Planned Parenthood demanding proof that they were eligible to receive millions of dollars in PPP loans. The agency noted that affiliates found to have provided fudged or false eligibility certifications may face "severe penalties, including repayment of the loan, ineligibility for loan forgiveness, and possible referral for civil or criminal penalties."
SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in a statement, "Planned Parenthood Federation of America was never eligible to receive a dime in pandemic-era relief from taxpayers. As part of the review under way, not only will we expose the Planned Parenthood affiliates who took advantage of the American people — we will take every necessary step to force every bad actor to pay them back."
Planned Parenthood did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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'... Perhaps now we know why the Biden administration did not want to share its Planned Parenthood records with Congress,' Sen. Ernst wrote.
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