At Saturday’s debate in South Carolina, Donald Trump called into question the idea that Jeb Bush’s brother, George W. Bush, “kept us safe” by pointing out the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack occurred while the older Bush was president. Trump repeated that attack in a Monday afternoon press conference. It’s a line of attack that might otherwise sink a Republican candidate, but Trump has benefited from his own image as a lifelong New Yorker who speaks (relatively) eloquently about what his fellow citizens went through during and after that day. His finest emotional moment, in fact, may have come in the debate last month while responding to Ted Cruz’s criticism of Trump’s “New York values.”
But it’s worth remembering that amid Trump’s flowery praise for his city, the real-estate mogul took advantage of taxpayer-funds designed to help struggling small-business owners in Lower Manhattan affected by the attack.
Here’s the story. Not long after 9/11, the World Trade Center Business Recovery Grant program was established to help small businesses recover and rebuild. The program disbursed hundreds of millions of dollars through a New York state development corporation in the years following the attacks. But there were problems early on. In 2003, the New York Times reported the development corporation admitted to overpaying some firms and took back $1.2 million. A federal audit, the Times added, suggested at least $5 million had been overpaid by the end of 2003.
And in 2006, the New York Daily News ran an investigative piece about how the program had awarded grants to companies and subsidiaries that hardly seemed like “small businesses.” Among them were Dell, Morgan Stanley, and, yes, Donald Trump. Here’s the Daily News:
In 2005, Trump valued 40 Wall Street at $400 million, and the Trump Organization describes the building as an “impressive, landmark property.” And as Trump said immediately following 9/11, none of his properties were directly damaged by the attack on the World Trade Center. But through a loophole in the rules, Trump was able to squeeze $150,000 of money from taxpayers for his valuable landmark property.
A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
