President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, admitted to Congress on Friday that she lied under oath during her confirmation hearing.
Government officials charged with shaping policies are forbidden from owning stocks that could create a conflict of interest. According to PJ Media, Granholm told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee during her confirmation hearing that she had no individual stocks.
Biden Energy Secretary Granholm admits false testimony about owning stocks https://t.co/r54ffGhPwt
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) June 9, 2023
Granholm has, however, admitted in a letter to the committee that she gave false testimony when she told lawmakers that she didn’t own any individual stocks. The energy secretary claimed that her false testimony was down to a mistake.
“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 the letter. “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,” she continued.
Granholm admitted in the letter that she retained assets in six companies. In an attempt to come out clean, Granholm told lawmakers that Government ethics officials have confirmed that the assets do not conflict with her official duties. Fox News Digital, who obtained a copy of the letter, reported that Granholm did not reveal the identity of the companies.
Granholm also told senators that she discovered on May 13 that her husband, Daniel Mulhern, owned Ford Motors Company shares worth $2,457.89. She claimed to have not disclosed those shares in her last two Public Financial Disclosure Reports because she believed her family’s divestiture of Ford was complete in early 2021.
“As a public servant, I take very seriously the commitment to hold myself to the highest ethical standards, and I regret the accidental omission of my spouse’s interest in Ford,” Granholm added in the letter. “This is a commitment I made to you, the President, and most importantly the American people.”
Granholm now claims that she has double-checked her family’s financial assets and no other reportable assets have been omitted from her financial disclosure.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) gave a fiery response to the letter.
Secretary Granholm lied to the committee about her family’s stock holdings. This comes after her failure to follow basic ethics and disclosure rules. This is a troubling pattern. It is unacceptable. https://t.co/F12JW8d7TQ
— Sen. John Barrasso (@SenJohnBarrasso) June 9, 2023
“Secretary Granholm lied to the committee about her family’s stock holdings,” Barrasso said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This comes after her failure to follow basic ethics and disclosure rules. This is a troubling pattern. It is unacceptable.”
