A Joe Biden campaign ad features a woman who says President Donald Trump “left the American people behind” in his handling of the coronavirus outbreak — without mentioning a relief loan she received to keep her business afloat.
Tiffany Easley, owner of NV My Eyewear, an optometry and eyewear store in Philadelphia, PA, received a $27,000 forgivable loan from the federal government via the administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). She was profiled in Billy Penn, a Philadelphia-based news media outlet.
In the ad, released Wednesday, Easley says Trump “seemed to make everything else worse” since the coronavirus outbreak:
I always wanted to build something from the ground up. I saved, put in the hours, and put off vacations. I’m Tiffany Easley, and I’m a small business owner. I opened NV My Eyewear three and a half years ago, and just as we were adding locations and employees, this pandemic brought everything to a halt. I had to permanently close one location and furlough my employees, and it’s my staff. They’re my family. It’s just heartbreaking. But what’s worse is that this president seemed to make everything else worse. Donald Trump and his administration left the American people behind. The people that he is supposed to protect and serve. Small businesses, they need a partner in the White House, and that’s why I’m with Joe. I know he’ll help small businesses like mine get back on our feet. I spent my life building this business from the ground up. I want a president that’s going to build this country back better than before.
Trump’s reelection campaign described the new Biden campaign commercial as “dishonest,” according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Biden’s claim that “40 percent of the initial small business funds didn’t go to small businesses at all” was rated “Mostly False” by PolitiFact.
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