Officials in the Biden administration may have concealed internal communications while discussing the approval and forgiveness of federal loans to Planned Parenthood — despite prior determinations that the group was ineligible — according to a report The Daily Wire published April 27.
Citing a letter from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the outlet reported that officials within the Small Business Administration (SBA) referred to Planned Parenthood as “Benghazi” in emails while discussing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans issued during COVID-19. Ernst, who chairs a Senate committee overseeing the agency, alleged the language was used to obscure records from congressional and public scrutiny.
The disclosure stems from a letter Ernst sent to the Department of Justice on April 27, requesting a potential investigation into the matter.
According to the report, SBA officials initially determined that Planned Parenthood and its affiliates did not qualify as small businesses under program rules, which generally limit eligibility to entities with fewer than 500 employees, including affiliates. Despite that determination, the Biden administration later forgave roughly $90 million in loans and accrued interest, Ernst said, as reported by The Daily Wire.
“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 reportedly wrote.
The report said the loans were first issued during the early months of the pandemic after Planned Parenthood affiliates self-certified their eligibility as small businesses under the first Trump administration. More than 90 Republican lawmakers quickly raised concerns, arguing the organization exceeded employee limits and should have been disqualified. The first Trump administration’s SBA subsequently notified affiliates they were ineligible and requested repayment, according to the report.
However, The Daily Wire reported that after former President Joe Biden took office in 2021, the agency did not recover the funds and instead approved additional payments and loan forgiveness.
Internal communications cited in the report allegedly show senior Biden administration SBA officials, including then-General Counsel Peggy Hamilton and Administrator Isabella Guzman, using the term “Benghazi (PPP/PPH) Decisions” in email subject lines and meetings. One message reportedly stated that the White House “has been engaged” and needed to be informed as decisions were made.
According to the report, in a direct message to colleagues, Hamilton wrote, “Can I schedule a meeting so we can decision Benghazi (Planned Parenthood)?” The reply reportedly said, “Yes, let’s talk Benghazi.”
“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, according to The Daily Wire. “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 “if other SBA Biden officials are complicit in conspiring with SBA’s General Counsel Peggy Hamilton and Administration Guzman to conceal or attempt to conceal federal records and evade public records retention laws, that is in clear violation of 18 U.S.C. S2017 and deserves investigation for potential Federal Records Act violations.”