Senator Joni Ernst, chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee, has formally referred the Biden administration’s Small Business Administration to the Department of Justice for investigation after discovering that SBA officials used the code name “Benghazi” in official government emails to conceal records related to $90 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans issued to Planned Parenthood during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a 13-page letter sent Monday to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Ernst asked for a DOJ investigation “for potential Federal Records Act violation by concealment and/or attempted concealment” of SBA records regarding loans to Planned Parenthood and loan forgiveness. “What does Benghazi have to do with Planned Parenthood? It appears the Biden SBA used it as a codename to hide the $90 million in taxpayer funds they gifted to the abortion provider,” Ernst stated.
The letter shows that on April 30, 2021, then-SBA General Counsel Peggy Hamilton sent a message to then-SBA Chief of Staff Antwaun Griffin asking: “Can I schedule a meeting so we can decision Benghazi (Planned Parenthood)?” Griffin replied within one minute: “Yes, let’s talk Benghazi.” All government emails are subject to public records requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
Ernst contends that congressional or public-records requests seeking Planned Parenthood documents from the SBA would have missed these records entirely because they were filed under the Benghazi code name. Under 18 U.S.C. § 2071, willfully concealing federal records carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.
Planned Parenthood was broadly ineligible for PPP loans, which were designed to help small businesses retain employees — not fund the nation’s largest abortion provider. The alleged deliberate concealment of records related to that funding suggests the Biden SBA knew the arrangement could not withstand public scrutiny.
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