Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) chief of staff reportedly apologized after a $20 million legislative grant was not given to the correct organization.
When speaking with investigators about the grant that is now the subject of an embezzlement probe, American-Arab Chamber of Commerce Chair Ahmad Chebbani said the governor’s chief of staff, Joanne Huls, went to the organization’s office in 2023 to offer an apology, MLive.com reported Tuesday.
According to the outlet, the money was given to a businesswoman named Fay Beydoun, who has for quite some time been a supporter of Democrat candidates, according to Bridge Michigan.
The MLive.com article continued:
According to court documents submitted by Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office, Chebbani said he was told it was the Whitmer administration’s understanding that the funds were intended to go to the chamber.
Beydoun, a Whitmer appointee, remains under investigation for allegedly embezzling taxpayer dollars after receiving the $20 million earmark in the state’s 2022-2023 budget for a business incubator to attract international entrepreneurs and start-ups to Michigan.
The sponsor of the earmark in the state budget was listed as then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth, who has denied sponsoring it.
Whitmer in recent years has come under fire for other issues involving funding. In late 2020, an independent audit of the unemployment benefits system found her administration paid up to $1.5 billion in “fraudulent” claims, per Breitbart News.
The following year the outlet reported on her secret trip to Florida on a private jet.
Breitbart News caught Whitmer changing her story this week from her original claim that she traveled “at her own expense.” Thursday, she would only say the trip was “not a gift” and was not “paid for at taxpayer expense.”
Friday, Whitmer’s chief of staff, Joanne Huls, told MIRS News the flight cost $27,521 and was paid for by a so-called “dark money” 501(c)(4) nonprofit originally set up to fund Whitmer’s transition activities in 2019. Now called “Executive Office Account,” the fund paid Air Eagle, LLC for the excursion. It is not clear if that was the intent all along, or only after the secret trip became public.
Days later, the network reported the private jet scandal was threatening Whitmer’s political future.
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