In the wake of President Donald Trump's landslide electoral victory, the Biden administration apparently reworked an Environmental Protection Agency grant agreement with an Obama administration staffer's climate alarmist group in order to make it difficult for the incoming administration to reclaim a $7 billion award.
Climate United Fund, one of the recipients of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program that is now under criminal investigation and getting axed by the Trump EPA, is now apparently exploiting that strategic hindrance in a desperate effort to get its hands on the money promised by the Biden administration.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency announced the discovery last month that the Biden administration parked roughly $20 billion at Citibank as part of a climate-branded scheme created under the Inflation Reduction Act that was "purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight" for the benefit of fellow travelers.
The agency indicated on March 2 that it was cooperating with the Department of Justice and FBI's ongoing criminal investigation into the matter and that it had also referred the "concerning matter of financial mismanagement, conflicts of interest, and oversight failures" in the GGRF program to the EPA's Office of Inspector General.
One of the intended recipients of the funds was a new nonprofit linked to staunch Biden ally Stacey Abrams, the failed gubernatorial candidate who sided with alleged domestic terrorists in 2023 and was slapped in January with what the Georgia State Ethics Commission indicated was likely "the largest Ethics Fine ever imposed by any State Ethics Commission in the country related to an election and campaign finance case."
The Abrams-linked nonprofit, Power Forward Communities, was awarded a $2 billion grant last year as part of the GGRF program despite being just a few months old and having no history of competently managing funds.
Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of the energy advocacy organization Power the Future, told Blaze News that the obligation of billions of taxpayer dollars to PFC and other brand-new climate groups with minimal or no track records of accomplishments "screams corruption and is absolutely worthy of IRS and DOJ investigations."
'EPA has determined that these deficiencies pose an unacceptable risk to the efficient and lawful execution of this grant.'
"I've always enjoyed the show 'Shark Tank,' and since I spend about half my life on the road and I'm in hotels a lot, it's kind of my go-to program to watch at nighttime," said Turner. "The sharks always ask about earnings before they make an investment, and that's usually where they will decide what they're going to do. Stacey Abrams' group had received $100 in donations and then got a $2 billion grant. The math tells me that that is a 20 million-times earnings investment. I've never never seen a shark make an investment at 20 million times earnings."
"It shows you the frivolity of the people in these agencies, the true political nature of grant-making, and it also explains the ire these folks have towards Elon Musk and DOGE — the ire that's turned into complete violence," continued Turner. "This is their lifeblood, and it's being taken away from them, but it never should have been theirs to begin with."
Climate United Fund, an organization formed in 2024 and led by Beth Bafford, a former special assistant in the Obama administration's Office of Management and Budget, similarly planned to ride the last gravy train out of the Biden administration.
According to court documents, the FBI recommended that Citibank freeze CUF's account in late February, citing "credible information" that it was among a number of accounts that had "been involved in possible criminal violations" including wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
On March 4, the Treasury Department directed Citibank not to disburse funds from the GGRF accounts, including that belonging to CUF, citing the EPA's "concerns regarding potential fraud and/or conflicts of interest related to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund."
When it discovered that it couldn't drain its slush fund and that it might not ultimately receive any of its $6.97 billion GGRF award, CUF — like other groups impacted by the EPA's funding freeze and grant terminations — filed a lawsuit on March 8 against both the EPA and Citibank, alleging that the "EPA has acted to prevent Citibank from dispersing [sic] funds, harming Climate United, its borrowers, and the communities they serve."
The EPA, which proved willing to battle it out in the court, subsequently notified the plaintiffs that it was terminating their grants, stating that "following a comprehensive review and consistent with multiple ongoing independent federal investigations into programmatic fraud, waste, abuse, and conflicts of interest ... EPA has determined that these deficiencies pose an unacceptable risk to the efficient and lawful execution of this grant."
'They're just fighting for their own entity's survival because they don't want to get a real job.'
According to the grant agreement between the climate groups and the EPA, the awards can be terminated only if:
An Obama judge ruled Tuesday that the EPA could not reclaim the Biden-era grants. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan did not, however, enable CUF and other climate alarmist groups to withdraw the billions of taxpayer dollars they believe they are owed.
The climate groups' efforts to get their hands on the taxpayer funds have dragged some questionable details about the grants into the light.
Sarah Bedford of the Washington Examiner highlighted that a month after Trump crushed Kamala Harris at the polls, the Biden Environmental Protection Agency amended its grant agreement with Climate United Fund, making it harder to revoke the award.
Eric Amidon, chief of staff of the EPA, noted in a Monday court filing that the agency's grant agreement with CUF originally issued in August did not "define the terms 'materially impaired' or 'waste, fraud, and abuse,' and used the terms in a manner that left EPA with significant discretion to administer the agreement." However, Amidon noted that in December 2024, the EPA issued an amended grant agreement to CUF that altered its compliance and termination provisions and defined the above terms.
As a consequence of the changes, the EPA effectively lost its contractual authority "to find CUF in immediate noncompliance for failing to report the expenditure of grant funds, audit results, and project status"; "to oversee subrecipient compliance with statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements"; and to spend grant funds only on allowable activities," said Amidon.
Amidon also indicated that the Biden administration's post-election definitions for "materially impaired" and "waste, fraud, and abuse" further tied the EPA's hands, restricting the agency's ability to terminate the award "absent evidence of severe criminal or civil violations."
Climate United Fund has leaned on the agreement in its lawsuit against the EPA and Citibank.
"This is absolutely intentional," Turner told Blaze News, referring to the broader alleged "gold bars" plot. "This was all very deliberate in preparation for what the Trump administration would do."
Brent Efron, a former EPA special adviser for implementation, was caught on hidden camera before Trump took office claiming that the agency was dumping billions of dollars in grants to nonprofits to make sure the Biden administration's climate initiatives remained afloat even after the Democrats lost their footing in the White House.
"Now it's how to get the money out as fast as possible before they [Trump administration] come in," said Efron. "It's like we're on the Titanic and we're throwing gold bars off the edge."
"In the grants process, grants can always be amended by the grantor. I deal with donors who want to fund certain projects, and circumstances change, and therefore the nature of the grant changes. That's understandable," said Turner. "But it's never been about an election, and that's the only criteria that changed with some of these groups that were awarded grants — Trump was now going to be president. And so it does raise a larger question: What was the grant ever about? What was the grant's nature? Because if it was combatting racial disparities in the climate space or whatever the phraseology they used, none of that has changed. Only thing that changed was the political circumstances, and so changing the grant based on politics sort of de facto proves that the nature of the grant is purely political."
Turner suggested that the groups now fighting over the frozen slush fund are "fighting for the quality of life that the taxpayers were awarding them. They're not fighting for groups. They're not fighting for maligned or marginalized individuals. They're just fighting for their own entity's survival because they don't want to get a real job."
Blaze News reached out to the EPA for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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Last spring when America was sadly still under the former regime, Biden and Harris via the EPA funneled $7 billion into a ghost fund called “the United Climate Fund.”
“This was all part of a $20 billion jackpot from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that was tacked in and tucked in so you could really find it in the so-called 'Inflation Reduction Act’ that had nothing to do with reducing inflation — nothing; it was a scam,” says Glenn Beck.
“They sold us climate salvation, but what it really was was robbery.”
Where did the money go?
A “black hole” of legal fees, vague solar promises, and political insiders, says Glenn.
For example, “we find out that they were funneling cash to Power Forward Communities,”’ which was tied to former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams (D).
Before receiving a $2 billion grant, “she had only raised $100!” says Glenn in shock. “That’s all she could raise for her own organization.”
According to an EPA whistleblower, the money was “an insurance policy against Trump winning.”
“All it was was a desperate cash-dump before the clock ran out. They were giving it to their friends. … DOGE blew the lid off this thing,” Glenn explains, calling it “calculated theft.”
What’s been the cost to American taxpayers?
When Glenn crunched the numbers, the $20 billion fund amounts to $240 per household.
And actually, “take $240 per family and then just add the interest rate that we're going to be paying China for that borrowed cash,” says Glenn. When it’s all said and done, “it's going to be a lot more than [$240].”
“That's groceries, gas, your kids' school supplies — gone! Where did it go? Stacey Abrams’ big pockets,” he continues, calling the scandal bigger than some of the United States’ most historic fiascoes.
He reminds us that the Teapot Dome scandal of 1920 is still taught in schools today. The debacle cost the U.S. “in today's adjusted dollars $400 million.”
“$400 million — and we're still teaching about that scandal. This is $20 billion,” he says.
In 2025, “you will be working … from January 1 to April 19 just to pay your taxes,” Glenn laments, “and what happened to those dollars? … I don't know, Stacey Abrams stuffed it in her big butt someplace, and money is shooting out. To whom, I don't know.”
Besides Biden and Harris, who else is behind this scandal? To hear Glenn’s thoughts, watch the clip above.
To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency announced the discovery last week that the Biden-Harris administration parked roughly $20 billion at an outside financial institution as part of a scheme "purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight."
In the days since, Zeldin has raised questions about one of the intended recipients of the funds — a new nonprofit linked to a staunch ally of the former president and vice president, failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
"I made a commitment to members of Congress and to the American people to be a good steward of tax dollars, and I’ve wasted no time in keeping my word," Zeldin told the Washington Free Beacon, which highlighted the connection in a report Wednesday. "When we learned about the Biden administration’s scheme to quickly park $20 billion outside the agency, we suspected that some organizations were created out of thin air just to take advantage of this."
The Abrams-linked nonprofit, Power Forward Communities, was founded in 2023 by several groups, including Rewiring America, a climate alarmist outfit focused on electrifying American homes and businesses. Abrams serves as senior counsel at Rewiring America, and she made clear online in October 2023 that she was an engaged player in Rewiring America and the PFC "coalition."
The Beacon indicated that PFC also counts among its partners at least two leftist nonprofits founded by Abrams, the Tides Center-sponsored Southern Advancement Project and Fair Count.
The Biden EPA reportedly awarded the Abrams-linked group a $2 billion grant in April 2024 as part of its $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Program, which was created under the Inflation Reduction Act.
PFC was one of only eight awardees.
The New York Post highlighted that PFC received the $2 billion grant one month after Abrams pushed back against calls for Biden to drop out of the presidential race, stressing in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution op-ed that Democrats' "path to victory lies in standing by Biden."
The EPA stated at the time that then-newly created PFC was committed to reducing climate and air pollution; delivering benefits to "low-income and disadvantaged communities," and mobilizing financing and private capital.
'It's extremely concerning that an organization that reported just $100 in revenue in 2023 was chosen to receive $2 billion.'
In a press release dated August 2024, PFC stated that with the "funds expected to start flowing into homes in early 2025," it would — in concert with Rewiring America and other coalition members — be able to "transform the marketplace for heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, solar panels, home battery systems, EV chargers, and wiring," as well "boost local economies."
Despite the group's big talk, the Democratic administration's confidence in the Abrams-linked outfit was on shaky ground. Not only was it just a few months old, it had yet to demonstrate any competency managing funds — certainly not billions in taxpayer funds.
"As we continue to learn more about where some of this money went, it is even more apparent how far-reaching and widely accepted this waste and abuse has been," Zeldin told the Beacon. "It's extremely concerning that an organization that reported just $100 in revenue in 2023 was chosen to receive $2 billion. That's 20 million times the organization’s reported revenue."
Neither PFC nor Abrams reportedly responded to the Beacon's requests for comment.
Zeldin noted on X Wednesday night, "Stacey Abrams' Power Forward Communities received $2 BILLION to be a pass through entity for Biden EPA's $20 billion 'gold bar' scheme."
PFC is hardly the only Abrams-linked organization to find itself at the center of a controversy in recent months.
Last month, two groups founded by Abrams that sided with alleged domestic terrorists in 2023 were slapped with what the Georgia State Ethics Commission indicated was both the largest fine it has ever imposed and possibly also "the largest Ethics Fine ever imposed by any State Ethics Commission in the country related to an election and campaign finance case."
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House Minority Leader says an 'enlightened Supreme Court' - aka a liberal-led court - could help Dems win back the House.
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