90 Miles From Tyranny

Thursday, April 29, 2021

‘Worse than Solyndra’: Republicans Press for Information on Biden Admin’s Favorite Electric Battery Company

GRIFT: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has up to $5 million invested in company Biden promoted

Republican senators are working to make the electric battery company President Joe Biden toured to promote his $1.9 trillion infrastructure plan this administration's Solyndra.

Biden's promotion of electric battery and bus manufacturer Proterra has struck a nerve on Capitol Hill after the Washington Free Beacon reported that Biden's energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, still has up to $5 million invested in the company. The administration's $1.9 trillion infrastructure plan includes a $174 billion investment in electric vehicles, as well as plans to replace diesel-powered buses with electric-powered buses—the very product Proterra specializes in.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) says the conflict of interest created by Biden's visit has the potential to be "even worse than Solyndra," the solar panel company that went bankrupt after receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in government-backed loans from the Obama administration.

"President Biden's decision to heavily promote a business where his energy secretary holds a multimillion-dollar stake has all the potential to be even worse than Solyndra," Cruz told the Free Beacon. "President Biden and Secretary Granholm should immediately remove themselves from their glaring conflict of interest."

The Solyndra boondoggle became a lasting symbol of failure during the Obama administration, which awarded the green energy firm a $535 million loan guarantee through the 2009 stimulus package. The loan was announced with fanfare by then-vice president Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu during a Sept. 4, 2009 speech at Solyndra's California headquarters. Obama, even after being warned that the company was on the brink of failure, visited its headquarters a few months later and hailed it for "leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future."

The company months later shut down all operations and declared bankruptcy.

The overt promotion of Solyndra bears resemblance to the current treatment of Proterra, which in the first hundred days of the Biden administration won a visit by the president as well as a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris to one of its largest partners. Biden predicted during his virtual visit that companies like Proterra were "going to end up owning the future." Biden also promised the company he would return for an in-person visit in the near future.

The White House says Granholm, who has been given a major role in both crafting and selling the infrastructure package, played no role in planning the visit to Proterra. Granholm resigned from the company's board but has yet to divest her up to $5 million in the company, which was acquired for $1.6 billion this January.

Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has asked the Department of Energy's inspector general to investigate any conflicts of interest created by...

John Kerry is skirting the line of treason with Iran

REVEALED: Why Biden Couldn’t Discipline John Kerry For Briefing Iranian Terror Chiefs Even If He Wanted To.

The Biden White House has been steadfastly silent on leaked tapes revealing that Climate Czar John Kerry swapped secrets about Israeli military operations with Iranian officials. It seems the former Secretary of State is getting off scot-free for briefing a country designated by the U.S. government as a state sponsor of terror.

The tapes should play out to be a major international scandal, even constituting grounds for Kerry’s termination, as Iran’s Foreign Minister divulges that Kerry “informed him that Israel had attacked Iranian interests in Syria at least 200 times.”

But when pressed on the matter, Press Secretary Jen Psaki didn’t even sputter a promise to “circle back,” instead sternly responding with “we’re not going to comment on leaked tapes.” And three days into the scandal, mum’s still the word.

So why the silence?

Biden and Kerry are long time buddies, to be sure. But Kerry has “insurance” when it comes to his freedom within the Biden regime, and it leads back via another leaked tape: the one from Hunter Biden’s hard drive.

The tape, published exclusively by The National Pulse, reveals the president’s son boasting about being “in business” with foreign adversaries including the “f*cking spy chief of China.” The confession, along with countless emails, text messages, and financial transactions, cast Hunter Biden as a repeat offender when it comes to corruption, foreign collusion, and compromise.

And who had a front-row seat to all these blackmail-prone business dealings?

John Kerry’s stepson, Christopher Heinz.

The billionaire heir co-founded Rosemont Capital, an international private equity firm anchored by Heinz family cash, with Hunter Biden in 2009. And the multi-billion-dollar firm had offshoots including Rosemont Seneca Partners, Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners, and even Rosemont Realty. The Managing Director of the firm was none other than Heinz’s Yale roommate, Devon Archer.

And unsurprisingly, these names are as commonplace on Hunter Biden’s hard drive as the lewd images, drugs, and prostitutes. Wherever this trio went, corruption followed and foreign cash flowed.

In addition to leveraging family member’s political connections for high-paying domestic contracts and consulting gigs, Rosemont Seneca Partners also joined the infamous BHR Partners investment fund.

This $1.5 billion deal – birthed less than two weeks after Hunter Biden accompanied his father on a trip to China – had already come under scrutiny, as it was underwritten and controlled by Chinese Communist Party-run banks and officials. And Rosemont Realty suffered a similar fate. In 2015, a Chinese military-linked company acquired a...

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said in his rebuttal to President Joe Biden on Wednesday night that Democrats too often want to focus on the issue rather than finding a solution.

Scott delivered the Republican rebuttal after Biden delivered his address to a joint session of Congress.

The South Carolina Republican chided Democrats for blocking his proposals on police reform.

“In 2015, after the shooting of Walter Scott, I wrote a bill to fund body cameras. Last year, after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, I wrote an even bigger police reform proposal. But, my Democratic colleagues blocked it,” the senator said.

“I extended an olive branch; I offered amendments, but Democrats used the filibuster to block the debate from even happening,” he said.

“My friends across the aisle seem to want the issue, more than they wanted a solution,” Scott said. “But, I’m still working; I’m hopeful that this will be different.”

“When America comes together, we’ve seen tremendous progress, but powerful forces want to pull us apart,” Scott said.

Police reform became an issue of increased interest for Congress after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor last year.

While Democrats proposed legislation that would have moved to eliminate qualified immunity, or legal protections for police officers, Scott tried to propose legislation that could pass through both chambers of Congress.

Sen. Angus King (I-ME), one of the three non-Republicans who voted to advance Scott’s legislation, chided his Democrat colleagues for voting against its advancement.

King said “voting against it will end the discussion of this subject in the Senate for the foreseeable future, and leave us with nothing to show for all the energy and passion that...