Biden Energy Secretary Admits She Owned Individual Stocks, Contradicting Previous Testimony

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm disclosed this week that she had owned individual stocks, contradicting previous testimony from the Biden administration official.

Granholm said in a Friday letter that she discovered last month that she owned individual stocks, contrary to what she testified on April 20. In the letter, she told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the individual stocks she had owned were “non-conflicting,” but that she had divested from them last month to match her testimony.

“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. 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 wrote.

Granholm said that her husband had owned $2,457.89 worth of shares in Ford, something she also said she did not know. The Ford shares were subsequently sold off.

“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,” she added. “This is a commitment I made to you, the President, and most importantly the American people.”

The letter says that she owned stock in six individual companies, something she had not previously told lawmakers. She said that specific companies will be detailed in a later filing this month.

“My spouse and I have double-checked our financial assets, and there are no other reportable assets that were omitted from my financial disclosure report,”  she said.

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Her disclosure was criticized by Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), who is on the Senate Energy Committee.

“Secretary Granholm lied to the committee about her family’s stock holdings,” Barrasso told Fox News. “This comes after her failure to follow basic ethics and disclosure rules. This is a troubling pattern. It is unacceptable.”

Granholm has come under fire for her stocks in the past, with CNBC reporting in January 2022 that she had violated a stock disclosure law nine times in 2021. The reported violations included stock sales that were not disclosed within the 45-day time period required.

The stock trading of government officials has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, with some lawmakers looking to prohibit elected lawmakers from being able to buy and sell individual stocks.

‘Declined Dramatically’: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Approval Plunges — Again

Just like Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s health, her approval rating is on a rapid decline.

The 89-year-old California Democrat — who missed more than two months of work after coming down with shingles and other serious ailments, putting her in a wheelchair — appears to have worn out her welcome with Californians.

Approval of the way Feinstein is handling her job has dropped to 30% among likely voters surveyed in Orange and San Diego Counties by the Public Policy Institute of California, The Orange County Register reported on Friday.

“That rating is a more than 10% decrease from March 2022 when approval stood at 41% and a 7% decrease from October 2022 when 37% of adults and likely voters in Orange and San Diego counties said they approved of Feinstein,” the Register reported.

But it’s not just those two counties. In three other geographic regions — Central Valley, Inland Empire and San Francisco Bay Area — Feinstein gets just a 28% approval rating. Just more than a third (36%) approve of her in Los Angeles, but even that rating was an 11-point decline since March 2022.

“A once very popular senator has lost a lot of support because, unfortunately, she’s perceived by both the left and the right as not well enough to do her job effectively,” Fred Smoller, a Chapman University political science professor, told the Register. “She was once very popular, but has declined tremendously.”

In March, Feinstein suffered an outbreak of shingles that spread to her face and neck, causing vision and balance impairments as well as facial paralysis.

The virus also brought on a case of encephalitis, a swelling of the brain that can leave sufferers with long-term memory or language problems, sleep disorders, bouts of confusion, mood disorders, and difficulties walking.

When Feinstein returned to the Senate in mid-May, she was in a wheelchair, with “the left side of her face frozen and one eye nearly shut, she seemed disoriented as an aide steered her through the marble corridors of the Senate, complaining audibly that something was stuck in her eye,” The New York Times reported.

Other polls have found that Californians are tiring of Feinstein. More than two-thirds of voters in a statewide survey think Feinstein is not fit to serve in the Senate, according to a recent poll.

Sixty-seven percent of registered voters in the state say Feinstein’s latest illness, which has left her in a wheelchair, has left her unfit for office, according to a poll conducted by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies.

Poll respondents were asked if they agreed with the statement, “Feinstein’s latest illness underlines the fact that she is no longer fit to continue serving in the U.S. Senate.”

In addition, on the question of whether she should resign, a plurality (42%) said she should. Another 27% said Feinstein should serve in the Senate until the end of her term in 2025, while 31% said they were undecided.

The poll was conducted from May 17 to 22 and surveyed 7,465 registered voters with random emails in both English and Spanish.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

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