News · Press Release

FACT CHECK: Republicans Use Smoke and Mirrors to Disguise Corrupt Carlos’ Record of Corruption

New NRCC Ad Fails to Distract from Giménez’s Corruption

Republicans are scrambling trying to muddle Carlos Giménez’s well-documented record of rampant corruption, so they’ve decided to launch overblown and false attacks against Representative Mucarsel-Powell to mitigate the damage.

Corrupt Carlos has always put his lobbyist sons and corporate donors ahead of his constituents, which is why this morning, the DCCC released its first TV Ad documenting his corruption. Mucarsel-Powell meanwhile has been a champion for South Florida families, fighting to give them $1,200 stimulus checks and working so that PPP loans went to small businesses who needed it most.

No matter how they try, Republicans can’t change the facts: 

  • Carlos Giménez’s family members who built the disastrous FIU bridge and received lucrative contracts from Miami-Dade County received millions in PPP loans. And local leaders, including fellow Republicans, have accused Corrupt Carlos of abusing COVID relief funds as “slush” money for his own personal political gain.
  • Mucarsel-Powell voted repeatedly and spoke out to ensure that PPP loans only went to the small businesses that needed them. She also voted to make the process more transparent, opposing Republican efforts to keep recipients of PPP loans secret.
  • Robert Powell was not on the SEC filings associated with his employer, Pollo Tropical’s loans, eliminating any perceived influence he could have on the process. The Miami Herald has already concluded “There’s no indication Powell played a role in Fiesta’s PPP loan application.”
  • Pollo Tropical returned the money within a week of rules changing, and even then, Robert Powell was still not included on any forms.
  • At the same time Pollo Tropical took its PPP loan, Robert had taken a pay cut to ensure that the restaurant chain could offer hazard pay for frontline workers.
  • In all, Mucarsel-Powell ensured that 16,821 total loans went to small businesses in her district.

“Congresswoman Mucarsel-Powell has been a stalwart defender of small businesses during COVID-19. She voted to give them relief, ensure transparency in the process, and put money in their pockets. Republicans’ distortions of the facts are nothing but a blatantly transparent effort to disguise Corrupt Carlos Giménez’s career-long record of profiting from his office and helping out his lobbyist sons,” said DCCC Spokesperson Sarah Guggenheimer.

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