Documents obtained by The Free Press from the Environmental Protection Agency reveal that, despite handing out $20 billion in grants to eight nonprofits just before President Donald Trump took office, the federal employees who reviewed grant applications had concerns about high salaries, conflicts of interest, and oversight of taxpayer money.
An earlier investigation by The Free Press into the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund award found that billions of dollars were rushed to eight nonprofit organizations after the November election. All eight had ties to either the Biden administration, prominent Democratic donors, or to one another via board positions. Some of the nonprofit groups, like the Climate United fund, which was set to receive $6.9 billion, and Justice Climate Fund, which was granted $940 million, were formed as coalitions of smaller organizations specifically to make a grab for the cash.
Shortly after taking office, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin—who, in a post on X, wrote that he had “zero tolerance for any waste and abuse” of taxpayer funds—called for a Department of Justice investigation and had the money, most of which resided in 129 Citibank accounts, frozen.