Josh Hawley: Biden’s Energy Secretary Lied to Congress About Holding Stocks

Al Drago/Bloomberg/Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
John Binder

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) says President Joe Biden’s Energy Department Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, lied to Congress when she claimed in testimony that she did not hold individual stocks. On Friday, Granholm admitted that she held stocks as recently as last month.

As Breitbart News reported, Granholm made the admission in a letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee — revealing that she and her husband had, in fact, held individual stocks in companies that her department oversees.

“I mistakenly told the Committee that I did not own any individual stocks, whereas I should have said that I did not own any conflicting stocks,” Granholm wrote. “In order to make my financial holdings consistent with my testimony, on May 18, 2023, I divested my remaining stock holdings which consisted of stock in six companies, even though these assets were deemed non-conflicting.”

In April, Hawley questioned Granholm about whether she held stocks. At the time, she claimed she did not hold stocks and only held mutual funds.

“Do you own individual stocks, Madam Secretary?” Hawley asked, to which Granholm responded, “No, I’m invested in mutual funds.”

Hawley, in a post to Twitter, called Granholm out for seemingly deceiving Congress in regards to her stock trade portfolio.

“So Granholm lied to me on April 20 — and it took the administration six full weeks to admit it,” Hawley wrote. “… it is time to ban all senior executive branch officials and all members of Congress from owning and trading stock.”

Months ago, Hawley unveiled legislation to ban executive senior officials, as well as their spouses, from holding stocks.

Hawley also previously filed the PELOSI Act to ban members of Congress, as well as their family members, from holding or trading stocks after reports revealed that Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband, Paul Pelosi, bought up to $5 million in stock in a semiconductor company right as the Senate was passing legislation to massively subsidize the semiconductor industry.

Granholm’s admission comes as a Wall Street Journal report detailed how “one-third of the Energy Department’s senior officials … owned stocks related to the agency’s work,” prompting federal ethics officials to warn them about federal conflict of interest laws.

The Journal reported:

The more than 300 agency officials who received such warnings include nearly six dozen who held stocks of major energy companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. [Emphasis added]

More than 130 officials in the Energy Department collectively reported about 2,700 trades of shares, bonds and options in companies that ethics officers labeled as related to their agency’s work, according to the Journal’s analysis, which examined only disclosures by officials who filed annual reports in that period. [Emphasis added]

…

In a series of articles last fall, the Journal reported that across 50 federal agencies, more than 2,600 government officials reported investments that stood to rise or fall with the decisions made by their agencies. [Emphasis added]

Granholm, in 2021, reportedly violated the STOCK Act when she failed to properly report nine stock trades, including her selling shares of Uber, Redfin, and Gilead Sciences Inc., which enjoys lucrative government contracts.

Banning politicians and their family members from trading stocks is hugely popular among likely American voters.

Last year, a Trafalgar Group survey revealed that 76 percent believe Congress has an “unfair advantage” when it comes to the stock market. Only five percent support permitting congressional stock trading.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.

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