Today in a hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) blasted Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm for lying about her personal stock holdings and for presiding over a culture of corruption where senior DOE employees trade and own stocks related to the agency’s work. Hawley also pressed Granholm on her connection to dark money organizations funded by billionaires.
“You are presiding over institutionalized corruption in your Energy Department, you have violated the Stock Act nine separate times. You have been referred by the Inspector General for violations of the Hatch Act. It is institutionalized corruption that you are now the face of,” said Senator Hawley.
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“I just want to know who runs the Energy Department, is it you, or is it the mega corporations whose stock that you own that you are making profits on? Or maybe it’s the foreign billionaires who fund your conferences,” asked Senator Hawley.
“All I have to say is this record is deplorable, it is despicable, it is outrageous that hundreds of officers in the Energy Department are trading shares. It is outrageous that you’ve misled us. It is outrageous that you are continuing to mislead us, and it is outrageous you’re going to conferences and events funded by foreign billionaires using dark money to try to influence our politics. This has got to change, and frankly you should go,” he concluded.