Sen. Hawley Presses Granholm On Controversial Stock Investment Record

Although insider trading is a serious crime that has landed many notable public figures behind bars, government officials often seem to receive a pass.

Various lawmakers have been accused of initiating stock investments or sales due to information they have had that had not been made public, though typically without facing any significant consequences.

Other public employees — including Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm — have come under similar scrutiny, including during a congressional hearing this week. Granholm, a Democrat who previously served as the governor of Michigan, has been linked to a host of questionable stock trades and reportedly failed to report a slate of stock sales within the 45-day window mandated by law.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) pressed her on the issue with a direct line of questioning.
“When you were here last, I talked with you about the fact that more than 130 officials in the Energy Department reported more than 2,700 trades of shares, bonds and options, and companies that ethics officers said were directly related to the agency’s work,” the senator began. This is institutionalized corruption and I asked you point blank if you own any individual stock, and you told me no.”

Hawley went on to cite evidence that she was not telling the truth during that earlier Capitol Hill appearance and actually “owned multiple individual stocks” that she failed to reveal to Congress for several months thereafter.

“I believed that I had sold all individual stocks,” she said.

The Missouri Republican asked Granholm if she did not know what was in her own stock portfolio, and she said that was “pretty much” right.

“It’s a big one I guess, huh?” Hawley asked.

She described it as “extremely small” before claiming that she immediately reported the individual stock she realized she still owned after her prior testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“That’s not true either,” Hawley interjected. “Let’s just look at the timeline. You testified you didn’t own any individual stocks, you didn’t sell the stocks for another month, and after you sold the stocks you waited another month before you informed this committee. Why did you mislead us and what were you hiding?”

The back-and-forth continued as Granholm attempted to defend her actions, but Hawley concluded with a damning assessment of her tenure at the helm of the agency.

“It is institutionalized corruption that you are now the face of,” he declared. “I just want to know who really runs the Energy Department. Is it you or is it the megacorporations whose stocks you own that you’re making profits? Or maybe it’s the foreign billionaires who fund your conferences. Do you know the names of the foreign billionaires who fund the conferences you go to since you don’t know the stocks? Would you happen to know the names of the foreign billionaires?”

Granholm claimed she did not know what he was referring to, prompting the senator to assert: “Madame Secretary, all I have to say is this record is just deplorable. It is outrageous that hundreds of officers in the Energy Department are trading shares. It is outrageous that you misled us. … This has got to change, and frankly, you should go.”