ProPublica reports the administration of Donald Trump has given coronavirus bailout funds to two different elite private jet companies which were owned or founded by individuals who donated to the Trump campaign.
“The two private jet companies are among the first 96 airline companies disclosed as recipients of taxpayer funds under the CARES Act,” Jake Pearson reports in ProPublica's May 15 story:
An Omaha, Nebraska-based private jet company whose principal owner donated generously to Donald Trump and Republicans ahead of the 2016 election received $20 million in taxpayer aid from the federal bailout package passed in March.
Jet Linx Aviation, which caters to well-to-do CEOs and executives, was the second private plane company founded or owned by Trump donors to receive federal funds designated for the airline industry under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. CNBC reported on Thursday that Clay Lacy Aviation, a Van Nuys, California-based private jet company whose founder has given nearly $50,000 to the Republican National Committee and Trump, got $27 million in federal funds.
Jet Linx Management Company Vice Chairman John Denny Carreker and his wife, Connie, gave $68,100 to Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee and the Trump Victory Committee between October 2015 and November 2016, Federal Election Commission filings show. Connie Carreker gave an additional $1,000 to the Trump campaign in November 2018, according to the FEC.
(...) Jet Linx and Clay Lacy are among the most prominent in the industry: Last year, the flight tracking firm Argus Traqpak ranked them fifth and 11th, respectively, in hours logged, according to a list of the top 25 private air charter operations. No other top 10 private jet company received federal grants. The average grant amount for the 70 private jet companies to receive aid was $2.2 million, about a tenth of what Jet Linx and Clay Lacy each received.
Read the rest:
Another Private Jet Company Owned by a Trump Donor Got a Bailout — This One for $20 Million
[ProPublica, by Jake Pearson May 15, 5:02 p.m. EDT]
