Biden issues 'warning' about alleged stimulus corruption: 'We will punish the wrongdoers'

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday issued a stern warning to "big companies and political insiders" who have received coronavirus stimulus loans, promising as president to review them and punish any wrongdoing his administration might find. 

The warning, released via video on Twitter early on Tuesday morning, suggested that "President Trump and his administration" had been behind "corrupt giveaways" related to the massive $2.2 trillion relief package passed last month. 

"In my first day as president, I will appoint a truly independent non-partisan inspector general, and I will direct her to review every stimulus loan given to any big company or political insider. Every single one," Biden said. 

"The inspector general I'll appoint will have the authority to refer to the Department of Justice any potential wrongdoing by any company or executive that he or she uncovers," Biden continued, adding that "any dollar that goes to someone that does not merit it under the law, any dollar taken corruptly, we will find it, we will come get it, and we will punish the wrongdoers."

"That should start tomorrow. But if it doesn't, it will start on January 20th, 2021," he concluded. 

The stimulus bill, passed in April after state governments shuttered their economies and millions of Americans had lost their jobs, distributed about half a trillion dollars to major corporations, much of it in the form of loans. Another $350 billion in loans went to small businesses. 

Around $560 billion, meanwhile, went directly to individuals in the form of cash payments and additional unemployment benefits.