THE BIDEN KLEPTOCRACY - IF YOU'RE CORRUPT, YOU'RE ALREADY IN GOOD WITH THE OLD BRIBES SUCKER JOE BIDEN - Report: Biden Energy Secretary Granholm Violated STOCK Act

 

Report: Biden Energy Secretary Granholm Violated STOCK Act

JIM WATSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

JORDAN DIXON-HAMILTON

20 Jan 20220

2:41

President Joe Biden’s energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, reportedly violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, according to a Business Insider analysis of her financial disclosure documents.

Granholm’s financial reports revealed nine stock trades made between April 30, 2021, and October 26, 2021. Granholm sold shares of rideshare company Uber, real estate company Redfin, and biopharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences Inc. Gilead Sciences has a hefty government contract, and they also developed remdesivir, a treatment for the coronavirus.

However, Granholm’s disclosure of the trades to the Office of Government Ethics did not comply with the STOCK Act.

The STOCK Act requires executive branch officials to disclose their trades within 30 days of the transaction. However, Granholm reportedly took weeks or months to disclose her trades.

Ironically, Granholm called out Republicans for their alleged lack of transparency in the past. “Conduct the people’s business in the OPEN. Where’s the transparency you campaigned on @realDonaldTrump?” she tweeted about former President Donald Trump in 2017.

Congress passed the STOCK Act in 2012 after Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer released Throw Them All Out, which exposed corruption among political officials.

A spokesperson for the Department of Energy declined to explain why the secretary’s disclosures were late but said her financial holdings “are in compliance with the law.”

Although violations of the STOCK Act generally come with a $200 fine, Business Insider reported it is “unclear whether Granholm has paid any penalty.”

Former Obama-era Ethics director Walter Shaub criticized Granholm for claiming not to know of the stock trades. “She’s saying that she only just learned of the transactions … so it’s possible the ethics officials took that statement at face value,” Shaub said.

Granholm was the subject of recent controversy after promoting Proterra, an electric vehicle company. She sat on the board of Proterra and held over a million dollars worth of company stock before selling her shares. Granholm, whom the U.S. Senate confirmed in February 2021, sold her shares on May 24, 2021, as required by the law.

While in office, Granholm promoted the company, which critics argued increased the company’s visibility, therefore increasing the stock value.

Granholm Failed To Properly Disclose Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Transactions

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm / Getty Images

Matthew Foldi • January 20, 2022 4:10 pm

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Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm violated a law that requires her to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock trades.

In 2021, Granholm made at least nine stock trades between April and October but failed to disclose them until months after the required deadline had passed, Business Insider reported on Thursday. The trades include companies like Gilead Sciences, whose value soared during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act requires federal officials, including Granholm, to disclose transactions no later than 45 days after a transaction is made, regardless of whether they knew about the transaction.

In Granholm's December 16 disclosure, she revealed multiple sales from April 2021. A Washington Free Beacon analysis revealed that Granholm's mid-December releases of her stock transactions occurred more than 45 days after her April transactions occurred.

Granholm's finances have plagued her tenure as secretary of energy. While serving in the position, she held millions of dollars of stock in controversial electric vehicle battery company Proterra, which the Biden administration repeatedly promoted. While Granholm eventually sold hundreds of thousands of shares for a disclosed profit of $1.6 million, she has refused to disclose the identity of the buyer.

House Oversight Committee Launches Probe Into Biden-Backed Solar Company

Watchdogs say First Solar a beneficiary of political favoritism

President Biden in front of solar panels / nrel.gov

Alana Goodman • January 18, 2022 12:00 pm

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Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are investigating the Biden administration's decision to approve a $500 million federal loan to a solar energy company co-owned by a Biden megadonor, according to a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

After watchdog groups told the Free Beacon that First Solar was a beneficiary of political favoritism, House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) and Rep. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.), ranking member on the environmental subcommittee, are asking the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to turn over records related to the loan decision.

"The loan, which is DFC's ‘largest single debt financing transaction,' raises questions about the involvement of political considerations in the analysis and decision-making processes at the DFC," the congressmen wrote in a letter on Tuesday to acting DFC head Dev Jagadesan.

The probe also follows a shareholder lawsuit that accuses First Solar's executives of misleading investors and artificially inflating its stock price.

The legislators requested records of any communications between the DFC and the White House regarding First Solar and any communications related to First Solar co-owner Lukas Walton or his representatives by Feb. 1. They also asked Jagadesan to brief Republican committee staffers on the issue on Jan. 25.

Walton, a billionaire Walmart heir and one of First Solar's largest shareholders, contributed $300,000 to President Joe Biden's campaign and $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 2020, according to Federal Election Commission records.

"Given Mr. Walton's extensive history [of] fundraising for Democrats, this loan raises questions about what role his political contributions may have played in DFC's decision to grant this loan," the congressmen wrote.

When asked about the House Oversight Committee letter, a spokesman for First Solar told the Free Beacon that the company "would defer to DFC on this."

"DFC has approved debt finance for the new manufacturing facility and the transaction has yet to close," the spokesman said.

DFC did not respond to a request for comment.

The $500 million loan is intended to finance First Solar's planned manufacturing facility in India. First Solar, which is based in the United States, said the offshore factory was not "a case of outsourcing jobs and investment" but rather "a case of enabling the energy security of a major U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific with American innovation and ingenuity. We are helping counter China's dominance of solar manufacturing, even as we bolster America's energy security."

A spokesman for First Solar previously told the Free Beacon that the DFC reached out to the company about the loan and touted its position as a top U.S. solar manufacturer in an industry dominated by China.

"DFC approached First Solar to see how it could help when it recognized the potential to create a repeatable blueprint for countering China's dominance of supply chains elsewhere," said the spokesman.