Dem
47
GOP
53
A burning barn is basically what the office of the U.S. Attorney for Washington, DC, has turned into, thanks to acting U.S. Attorney (and also U.S. Attorney-designate) Ed Martin, who is so sleazy, he makes Dick Nixon's plumbers look like choir boys.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed by Congress and signed into law on August 16, 2022. It authorized $891 billion in total spending and is projected to raise $738 billion through tax reforms and prescription drug reform. By all accounts, it has been a resounding success so far, creating jobs and reducing greenhouse gases in amounts even higher than originally estimated. Though the law was signed by Joe Biden, the greatest impacts and the most jobs have been created in Republican districts across the country. An analysis by the Rocky Mountain Institute estimates that the largest job growth will be in Wyoming, North Dakota, West Virginia and Louisiana.
One innovative aspect of the IRA is a green bank called the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which is a competitive grant program designed to capitalize smaller, regional green banks to incentivize public-private partnerships (something the Republicans say they want to encourage more of). This arrangement has been used in many other funding programs, though this is the first time the EPA has utilized it. It's set up through the Treasury Department and, in this case, is overseen by the EPA. It is this fund that is the latest target of the DOJ and EPA under the EPA's new secretary, Lee Zeldin. This is part of Donald Trump's efforts to undo absolutely everything his predecessor did, no matter how successful in helping Americans, including many of his supporters, save money, get better-paying and healthier jobs, and live in a cleaner environment.
Despite Zeldin's falsehoods to the contrary, the Fund was not rushed through at the last minute. After being set up through the Treasury department, its first grant recipients were awarded by the EPA in April 2024. The awards were completed by September 2024, and the EPA retains oversight and monitoring of the programs and use of the funds. Indeed, the only thing true about what the current EPA and DoJ are now saying about this fund is the amount involved: $20 billion. Of that amount, $14 billion was awarded to regional green banks and $6 billion to small banks in lower-income communities. These banks, in turn, have distributed funds to non-profits who meet the criteria set up by the Fund and who can leverage investments from private partners. McKinsey and Company estimated that the $20 billion would leverage about $250 billion in private investments. That seems like a pretty solid ROI.
But apparently, this program must go because... reasons. And the folks working for Trump have never seen a law or constitutional provision they won't gleefully bulldoze. Enter Martin, the aforementioned interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. After summarily firing a bunch of prosecutors who worked on the 1/6 cases, transferring others, and threatening to investigate them for doing their jobs, he's moved on to other trumped-up charges (pun definitely intended). Unlike other spending that the administration has unlawfully and unilaterally frozen, this money has already been disbursed and is apparently being held in a Citibank account, so the Feds don't control it. The only way to get at it is to seize it through a court order. But the government seizing other peoples' money, especially this kind of money, is a BFD, as it should be. The scale of this attempt is "unprecedented," according to asset forfeiture expert Stefan Cassella. Until now, the largest amount seized by the feds was $4 billion in stolen bitcoin in 2022.
Nevertheless, Martin decided to open a criminal investigation into the disbursement of this $20 billion. There is no evidence for such an investigation, but why trifle with such banalities when there is payback to score? He ordered the head of the criminal division, Denise Cheung, to direct Citibank to freeze the funds while it sought a seizure warrant. Cheung refused and told Martin there was no probable cause supporting such direction. Martin then demanded the career prosecutor's resignation, which she submitted despite having worked at the DoJ since 2000.
After Cheung's resignation, no one else would sign the seizure warrant application, so it was signed only by Martin himself. And, lo and behold, it was denied by a magistrate judge because it failed to establish any reasonable belief that a crime had occurred that would justify a seizure. Meanwhile, acting deputy AG Emil Bove had also asked prosecutors in Miami to launch a grand jury investigation and seek a court-ordered bank freeze but they refused. To say these machinations are unusual is an understatement.
Nonetheless, on her way out the door, Cheung agreed to recommend that Citibank voluntarily put an "administrative freeze" on the funds for 30 days while the feds root around for some bogus basis for seizing the money... er, while they try to find probable cause. As a reminder, these are legally allocated funds that the Biden administration had every right to disburse. It appears that Citibank has, indeed, succumbed to the pressure and put a hold on these accounts, as the grant recipients are reporting that they cannot access the remaining funds but have been given no explanation as to why.
It could not be more clear that this case lacks probable cause and pressuring Citibank to freeze the accounts is illegal and an abuse of power. The affected groups are threatening legal action but that may be too late for those organizations that entered into contracts based on the grants, which may be forced into bankruptcy because of these moves. In reality, the only ones who should be investigated are Ed Martin and Lee Zeldin. We feel compelled to once again remind everyone that immunity only extends to the president, not his underlings. (L)