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Trump administration defends $62M bailout to crooked Brazilian meatpacker
By CHRIS SOMMERFELDT
| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |MAY 16, 2019
The Trump administration on Thursday defended its $62 million bailout to a Brazilian meatpacking company controlled by a pair of corrupt brothers, arguing the private pork payout will eventually trickle down to struggling U.S. farmers.
Food industry watchdogs were baffled that JBS USA, owned by shady food industry titans Joesley and Welsey Batista, have their snouts so deep in an American bailout money pot, even though it’s designed to support American farmers hit hard by President Trump’s trade war.
But the Department of Agriculture said it doesn’t matter the funds went to the Brazilian bad boys — both of whom have confessed to bribing hundreds of top officials in their home country — because the program was designed to subsidize “approved vendors who have proven they can procure” products made in the U.S.
“This means that regardless of who the vendor is, the products purchased are grown in the U.S. and benefit U.S. farmers,” a spokesperson for the department said in a statement to the Daily News. "JBS qualifies as a bidder under this criteria. This is similar to someone buying JBS bacon in a grocery store. Regardless of the packaging, the bacon inside is from a hog grown on an American farm.”
The agency did not address the ethically-compromised Batistas.
The News first reported the administration’s massive JBS bailout.
The Batista brothers both spent time behind bars on bribery charges and aren’t allowed to leave Brazil as their court cases are being resolved. Their company is also being investigated by the Justice Department over possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the U.S., according to court papers.
The Agriculture Department spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions about whether the administration was aware of the Batistas’ sweeping corruption and sketchy record when the bailouts were made.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-trump-defends-bailout-brazilian-bacon-grocery-batista-hogs-20190516-hj2gpi5h4jejve63cqac5atcn4-story.html
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