Biden Energy secretary reveals stock ownership of EV lobby group founding company

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Granholm supports requiring U.S. military to adopt all-electric vehicle fleet by 2030

Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm says she supports efforts to require the U.S. military to implement an all-electric vehicle fleet by the year 2030, telling lawmakers that she believes "we can get there."

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm filed her annual financial disclosure form Friday, revealing that she quietly sold shares worth up to $120,000 of six companies last month.

Granholm's disclosure, filed Friday morning with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, showed that Granholm and her husband Daniel Mulhern owned shares in ride-share company Uber, pharmaceutical company Gilead, online real estate broker Redfin, financial services firm Invesco, telemedicine company Teladoc Health and entertainment company Cedar Fair.

According to the filing, Granholm's flurry of stock sales were made on May 18 and came a month after she testified under oath during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing that she was "not owning individual stocks." Then, on June 9, Granholm informed the committee in a letter that she owned shares of six companies at the time of her testimony, but did not identify which companies.

"As part of her commitment to the highest ethical conduct and transparency, Secretary Granholm timely divested of all conflicting assets that were known at the time of her confirmation, and subsequently even divested of assets she wasn’t legally required to sell," David Mayorga, the director of public affairs at the Department of Energy (DOE), told Fox News Digital last week.

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Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm speaks during a visit to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Diego County, California, on June 9. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Granholm reported in her 2022 annual disclosure that she had sold shares in Uber, Gilead and Redfin on April 30, 2021, and her shares in Invesco on May 6, 2021. She assumed her position leading the DOE in February 2021.

While the DOE stated the assets Granholm owned as of last month were "non-conflicting," Uber — which Granholm sold between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of shares in, the disclosure showed — is a founding member of the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA), a leading industry group lobbying for federal policies incentivizing greater electric vehicle proliferation.

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ZETA has advocated for the U.S. government to adopt policies ensuring 100% of vehicle sales are electric by 2030. Additionally, the group asked members of Congress to increase funding for the DOE's Loan Programs Office to further boost clean technology investing, bolster the domestic clean energy workforce and keep the nation "competitive in new markets."

At the same time, Granholm has advocated for many of the same policies and has used her position to repeatedly push EVs. She even recently called for the U.S. military to implement an all-electric vehicle fleet by 2030.

"Not only are we helping to protect our planet from the dangers of climate change, but we are also facilitating a shift in the accessibility of electric vehicle charging and creating good-paying jobs that support the manufacturing of sustainable technologies right here at home," Granholm said in 2021.

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm disclosed she owned up to $15,000 worth of Uber shares before selling them last month. Uber is a founding member of the Zero Emission Transportation Association. (STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In response to her June 9 letter informing lawmakers about her misleading statement about stock ownership and her recent sales in previously-undisclosed assets, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asked DOE Inspector General Teri Donaldson to investigate Granholm over her reporting errors.

"Secretary Granholm admitted she broke basic ethics rules. She has not been transparent about her shady finances," Barrasso told Fox News Digital on Friday. "Today’s financial disclosure doesn’t address those failures. She still owes the American people answers about her finances and her false testimony."

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., whose line of questioning led to Granholm's misstatement in April, also requested on Wednesday that Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., schedule a hearing to examine Granholm's financial disclosures. Hawley sent a letter to Granholm days earlier probing her over the incident.

"The facts of Secretary Granholm’s case are disturbing," Hawley wrote to Manchin. "How do you not know that you own stocks in individual companies? How do you not verify this after you were caught violating ethics laws the first time? And why did she wait seven weeks to correct the record?"

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A spokesperson for Manchin said a hearing could not be inserted into the committee's schedule, but that Manchin would assist with getting Hawley a one-on-one meeting with Granholm to answer any outstanding questions.

Additionally, Granholm told the committee she also discovered on May 13 that her husband owned $2,457.89 worth of shares in Ford Motor Company. Those shares were then sold on May 15, a Monday, when the stock market opened. She failed to disclose those shares in her two prior annual disclosures and had mistakenly believed her family's divestiture of Ford was complete in early 2021.

Barrasso noted that Granholm has boosted Ford projects while leading the agency, maintained shares of electric vehicle maker Proterra while the White House promoted the company, was found guilty of violating the Hatch Act, and violated the STOCK Act nine times by failing to disclose $240,000 worth of stock sales within the legally-mandated time frame.