A prominent Delaware law firm founded by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for between $150,000 and $350,000, according to records released Monday by the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration, Fox News informed.
The Trump campaign told Fox News that the records conflict with recent messaging from the Biden campaign that the PPP is both ineffective and a vehicle to reward Trump “cronies.”
“Instead of attacking President Trump as an involuntary reflex, maybe Joe Biden should just say ‘thank you’ once in a while,” Trump campaign director of communications Tim Murtaugh told Fox News. “The PPP saved 51 million jobs nationally, including at Biden’s old law firm and a number of companies connected to Obama administration alums. A very likely explanation is that Biden simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about and would rather make a political weapon out of a program that helped people make their rent and mortgage payments.”
The law firm that received the big payout was originally founded as Biden and Walsh and is now known as Monzack Mersky McLaughlin and Browder; Biden currently has no financial interest in the firm.
However, firm co-founder and partner Melvyn Monzack, whom Biden called one of his “great friends” in 2017, has maintained close ties to the former vice president. He served as Biden’s 2002 Senate reelection treasurer, as well as the treasurer for Biden’s 2008 presidential run.
According to CBS News, Monzack, who has donated thousands to Biden’s presidential campaign, attended a state dinner at the White House for Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2011. The law firm is also a registered agent for companies tied to Biden.
Records reviewed by Fox News show that on July 6, 1987, Biden gave Monzack his legal power of attorney to “demand, sue for and receive all debts, moneys, securities for money, goods, chattels, or other personal property.”
Last week, the Biden campaign released a video that included a small business owner saying the Trump administration had done nothing to help her; the advertisement did not disclose that the business owner received thousands in federal relief money. Biden and his allies have also stepped up their attacks on what they call President Trump’s cronyism in the distribution of stimulus money.
A Biden aide shot back after this story was published — both at the Trump campaign, and Fox News.
“The only thing this story tells us is how desperate the Trump campaign is to find an attack on Vice President Biden that sticks, and how eager Fox News is to help them in their efforts,” the aide said. “Joe Biden isn’t the president (yet) and has no control over how PPP funds are distributed, so perhaps instead of covering how a law firm Biden worked briefly at decades ago got a loan, Fox News should examine why the single biggest recipient of PPP funds was a massive Trump donor, or why 40 Trump-connected lobbyists were able to steer more than $10 billion in taxpayer money to their wealthy clients.”
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