Trump admin gave Scientology branches PPE loans of $350K raising speculation of president’s connection to cult
President Donald Trump and his administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans came under heavy scrutiny earlier this month after it was revealed that the recipients included the Kushner family, Trump's fundraising friend Joe Farrell, and Kanye West. However, the most unusual recipients of them all was the Church of Scientology. The Trump administration gave thousands of dollars to the organization under the PPE program meant to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The church, which claimed to support a total of 137 employees, received three loans of up to $350,000 each for its sites in New York, Florida, and Washington, DC. The Trump administration's decision to give huge paychecks to an organization mired in scandals, which boasts of prominent celebrity representatives like Tom Cruise and is often defined as a cult, particularly stands out considering its tax-exempt status. The Church of Scientology has reportedly amassed over $1 billion in assets. This particular PPE payment has not just raised many eyebrows but has fuelled speculations of Trump's association with the infamous organization.
The payments also left former Scientologists-turned-whistleblowers Leah Remini and Mike Rinder baffled. The pair, along with journalist Tony Ortega, had previously exposed abuses within the religion.
“It’s insane,” Remini, a former high-ranking Scientologist told the Daily Beast. “Mike [ex-spokesperson of the church] and I have tried to meet many times with the IRS, and the IRS knows what they’ve done. They’ve known that they’ve cleared the way for Scientology to misappropriate their money. It’s run like a business for profit. And this just says that!”
The duo has also consistently insisted that Scientology primarily functions through a series of volunteers. Considering this, Remini and Rinder have also raised questions on why the church would require handouts from the government to compensate its employees. “The PPP loans were about ensuring that people don’t lose their jobs, and Scientology, when confronted about the fact that they don’t pay minimum wage or anything, say these people are volunteers!” Rinder said. “Staff members of Scientology organizations are ‘volunteers,’ they’re not employees, and they’re getting loans so that people don’t lose their jobs?”
The president's association with Scientology proceeds his presidential term. The Smoking Gun, after an investigation in 2015, had published part of the Donald J. Trump Charitable Foundation's tax-return filings between 1990 and 2014, showing the organization made just one donation to a cause related to 9/11. A payment of $1,000 to the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, a program initiated by the Church of Scientology and Tom Cruise. The controversial program reportedly sought to heal first responders with smoke-damaged lungs through the “Purification Rundown." It is a detox method — medically unproven — involving pumping the body full of vitamins, performing loads of exercise, and spending many hours a day in a sauna. Health professionals, however, have deemed the method dangerous.
Remini also pointed to another possible influential Scientology figure close to Trump — singer Joy Villa, a pitchwoman for Scientology, who served on Trump’s Campaign Advisory Board. “And Joy Villa has infiltrated the Trump administration,” Remini added. “I don’t know how this continues to be a thing. It should be criminal.”
The president, over the past few years, has also reportedly met with multiple Scientology donors at the White House. While Vice President Mike entertained leading Scientology lobbyist Greg Mitchell.