“Cal Cunningham Caught in Lie After Company Took Millions From Program He Criticized” - Washington Free Beacon

July 10, 2020
For Immediate Release

RALEIGH, NC--- Earlier this week the Washington Free Beacon scooped the NC press corps and uncovered that Cal Cunningham’s company (WasteZero) received up to $2 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, while Cunningham was criticizing the program.

Today, the Free Beacon wrote a follow-up story chronicling how Cunningham has spent the week changing his story about whether he benefited from or knew about WasteZero’s PPP loan. 

Some highlights from the Free Beacon: 

  • North Carolina Democratic Senate nominee Cal Cunningham falsely claimed he cut ties with his waste management company before it applied for up to $2 million in taxpayer-funded coronavirus relief.

  • After a Washington Free Beacon report revealed that Cunningham's company, WasteZero, obtained between $1 and $2 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds, the North Carolina Democrat claimed he wasn't working at the company "at the time they applied for the loan." He accused incumbent senator Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) and his "allies" of "distorting the facts" and launching a "pathetic attempt to mislead voters."

  • However, Cunningham on Thursday admitted that he was "aware" of WasteZero's PPP loan application, telling the Charlotte Observer that he is "still available to do occasional hourly work" at the company. Campaign spokesman Aaron Simpson also told Charlotte-based NPR affiliate WFAE that Cunningham is still "on retainer" as WasteZero general counsel. While Cunningham previously said he left the company on March 20—a week before the loan program was enacted on March 27—he signed the company's 2019 annual report on March 31.

  • Cunningham has repeatedly criticized the PPP, which aims to support struggling small businesses during coronavirus shutdowns. "For PPP loans to have ‘generally missed the industries and areas most heavily impacted by COVID-19' is unacceptable," he said in a June tweet. "Leaving behind small businesses—and disproportionately those that are Black and Latino-owned—harms communities."

 

Read more from the Free Beacon HERE. 

…

In case you missed it, here is all of the negative coverage that Cunningham’s PPP hypocrisy and dishonesty generated this week. 

 

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