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Minnesota fraud scandal sparks push to scrutinize billions in Biden-era energy grants
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FIRST ON FOX: As a sweeping fraud scandal grips Minnesota, a conservative energy watchdog is encouraging lawmakers to scrutinize billions of dollars in Department of Energy grants they say were rushed out the door in the final weeks of the Biden administration, warning that internal red flags were ignored and taxpayer money may have been exposed to waste and political favoritism.
Power the Future founder and director Daniel Turner sent a letter to Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations United States Senate, and Republican Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, on Monday calling on lawmakers to examine grants and loan guarantees approved under the Biden administration’s Department of Energy, Fox Digital learned.
«As allegations of widespread fraud among government programs in Minnesota rightly horrify the American taxpayer, on behalf of Power The Future, I write to request immediate congressional oversight of the Department of Energy (DOE) unprecedented grant and loan activity conducted during the final weeks of the Biden Administration,» Turner wrote, referring to the
The letter turned lawmakers’ direction to the final months of the Biden administration, when «former Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm authorized tens of billions of dollars in so-called ‘clean energy’ grants and loan guarantees, an amount that exceeds many years of prior Department activity,» according to the letter.
TREASURY SECRETARY ANNOUNCES CASH REWARDS FOR MINNESOTA FRAUD WHISTLEBLOWERS
President Joe Biden’s environmental policies during his Oval Office tenure came under fire from the Trump administration upon President Trump’s inauguration. (AP/Evan Vucci)
«These funds were rushed out the door, despite warnings from the DOE Inspector General that internal controls were insufficient and that the program should be paused pending further review,» the letter continued, pointing to a Department of Energy Inspector General report that recommended the department halt its $400 billion green bank over conflict of interest concerns.
«Those warnings were ignored,» the letter states. «The funds were distributed anyway.»
Turner pointed to a Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office granting roughly $710 million as part of a 12-state affordable energy initiative four days before President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office.
The allocation to New Jersey was «followed closely by Secretary Granholm’s acceptance of a senior role overseeing energy policy for New Jersey governor-elect Mikie Sherrill. This troubling sequence of events raises legitimate questions about whether federal resources were deployed with political or personal considerations in mind rather than objective public interest,» the letter stated.
Sherrill appointed Granholm to co-lead an action team on «Making Energy More Affordable and Reliable» back in November after her gubernatorial election.
USDA IMMEDIATELY SUSPENDS ALL FEDERAL FUNDING TO MINNESOTA AMID FRAUD INVESTIGATION
«This episode reflects a broader pattern increasingly familiar to the American people: oversight mechanisms function, red flags are raised, and yet taxpayer dollars are still lost, only for accountability to be discussed after the money is gone. Public confidence erodes when internal warnings are dismissed and transparency is treated as optional,» Turner wrote in his Monday letter.
Fox News Digital reached out to Sherrill’s transition team for comment regarding the letter, Granholm’s role and response from the former DOE chief, but did not immediately receive a reply. Fox Digital also reached out to Biden’s office for comment on the letter.
Then-Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm speaks during a daily news briefing at the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Jan. 23, 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Climate change was a cornerstone of the Biden administration, with the then-president repeatedly casting it as an existential danger and «the single greatest existential threat to humanity. He argued his administration was correcting the ship on the climate through laws such as the Inflation Reduction Act’s sweeping clean energy tax credits and incentives, and cracking down on EPA rules aimed at cutting emissions from power plants and oil and gas, among other initiatives.
Power the Future urged Congress to conduct a full accounting of all DOE grants and loan guarantees approved during the final six months of the Biden administration, review Inspector General findings that were overridden, and examine political or financial ties between grant recipients and senior DOE officials.
«Congress must not allow these funds to vanish without answers,» Power The Future said, adding that taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability for how their money is spent.
After returning to office, the Trump administration moved to halt and reassess Biden-era climate spending, with Trump signing a day-one order positioning the U.S. to «unleash» domestic energy and shift away from what the White House has framed as a «globalist climate agenda.»
President Donald Trump during a primetime address to the nation in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House Dec. 17, 2025. (Doug Mills/Getty Images)
«Under the Biden Administration, green energy spending was sold to taxpayers as transparent, accountable, and carefully scrutinized,» Turner’s letter continued. «As the episode involving former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams securing $2 billion dollars worth of grants reveals, this was not always the case. Instead, it increasingly appears to have operated as a shield for rushed, massive federal expenditures timed to avoid meaningful review and now embedded within state and political ecosystems.»
BESSENT BLAMES WALZ AS TREASURY PROBES WHETHER MINNESOTA FRAUD FUNDS REACHED TERROR GROUP AL-SHABAB
The Biden administration came under fire from Republicans following the IG report, using it like ammo to argue the Biden-era Loan Programs Office was pushing money out too fast without proper guardrails, while the Department of Energy discounted the 2024 IG report as based on «mistaken facts and misunderstanding of the law.»
«LPO is in full compliance with both the Department’s conflict of interest rules and the Federal Acquistion Regulation («FAR»),» the department wrote in a response letter at the time. …. «Indeed, despite a months-long audit involving over one hundred contract files, OIG has not identified any organizational conflicts of interest.»
A person is detained as federal agents and police clash with protesters outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minn. on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Lawmakers and voters have taken a heightened interest in fraud as it relates to taxpayer funds as a sprawling COVID-era scheme involving money laundering came to light in Minnesota in the lead up to the holiday season. Investigators speculate the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion. Suspects arrested in the alleged schemes are mostly from the state’s large Somali community.
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«The large-scale fraud in Minnesota, where federal funds intended for public benefit were systematically abused despite warning signs, underscore the risks of allowing massive sums of taxpayer money to move with limited scrutiny. Just as lawmakers are calling for congressional investigations into Minnesota, Congress should call into question the Biden Department of Energy’s late stage grantmaking in a similar fashion,» Turner added in his letter to lawmakers.
energy in america,joe biden,energy,donald trump
Mientras se mantienen en Irán las masivas protestas contra el régimen islámico pese a la durísima represión que, según datos de organizaciones de derechos humanos dejó ya alrededor de mil muertos, la información llega desde allí a cuentagotas, tras el corte de Internet y de las comunicaciones decretado por las autoridades.
En medio de la incertidumbre, la agencia RFI logró contactarse con su corresponsal en Teherán, Catalina Gómez Ángel. Desde allí contó lo que está viviendo el país desde fines de diciembre, cuando estallaron las manifestaciones, que en un comienzo se debían a la bronca por el aumento del costo de vida, pero se transformó en un fuerte clamor por libertad y contra el régimen de los ayatollah, que se extendió por todo el país.
Pese a la mala calidad de la conexión, esto es lo que relató desde la capital iraní.
-¿Qué se sabe de lo que ocurre en Irán?
-Sabemos muy poco lo que pasa dentro del país, pero sí sabemos lo que pasa en Teherán. Desde el jueves hubo grandes demostraciones que se unían a esas protestas que ya habían empezado el 28 de diciembre por motivos económicos, que habían pasado a pedir la caída del régimen, y este jueves respondían al llamado que les había hecho de cierta manera algún sector de la población desde el extranjero, uno de los líderes de la oposición, Reza Pahlavi (hijo del último sha, depuesto en la revolución islámica de 1979).
-¿La gente salió igual a las calles pese a la represión?
-Fue una convocatoria muy grande, en unas demostraciones muy diferentes a las que habíamos visto ya muchas veces en Irán en el pasado. Había gente en todos los barrios y poco a poco fue empezando la represión que se esperaba y también la respuesta agresiva de muchos jóvenes en la calle, cansados de tantos años.
-¿Qué se sabe de los muertos?
-Lo que no sabemos cuántos muertos, pero se habla de miles solamente en Teherán y en el gran Teherán. Lo que hemos visto en las calles, en cierta manera fueron batallas muy duras, con enfrentamientos, los chicos respondiendo con piedras, los otros disparando con todo tipo de armas, tanto antimotines como reales. Mucha gente habla de muertos en la calle, especialmente el viernes. Todo el mundo conoce a alguien que ha muerto, que está herido, detenido. Realmente el temor es muy grande. Desde el sábado y el domingo la intensidad de las demostraciones se han reducido como consecuencia de ese miedo. El sistema nos habla al interior de presencia de terroristas, de presencia de infiltrados, y así se lo cuentan a la población local.
-Estas manifestaciones, que empezaron protestando contra la situación económica, han derivado a otras demandas sociales. ¿Esto puede ser el comienzo del fin del régimen?
-Es muy difícil decirlo. El régimen, el sistema de la República Islámica, a pesar de todas estas protestas y movilizaciones, todavía se ve muy fuerte. Todavía tiene estos grandes sectores de defensa, no solamente la policía, la Guardia Revolucionaria, ese gran sistema de misiles y un sector de la sociedad que, si bien cada vez es menos, sigue siendo grande. Se considera que es entre 15 y un 20% de la sociedad, como lo veíamos ayer, con más de 1 millón por lo menos en las calles de Teherán. Era una de las demostraciones oficiales más grandes de las que hemos visto. Y eso hay que tenerlo en cuenta. Lo que sí ha pasado es que este descontento se ha expandido en muchas regiones del país, donde antes la gente no se atrevía a salir. Decir que es el fin es extremadamente complicado. El sistema se está agarrando a muchos factores para sobrevivir. Todavía tiene la fuerza y tiene las armas, que es realmente lo que los hace importantes.
-Sobre la posibilidad de una intervención de Estados Unidos, ¿cómo la evoca la gente al interior de Irán? ¿Se ve con buenos ojos, se pide?
-Muchos están en un grado en este momento que no saben lo que va a pasar. Trump va a responder a esa promesa de atacar al país, que sería realmente lo que muchos piensan que es la segunda etapa, cómo reaccionará la gente que estaba en la calle… Y otros también temen incluso la posibilidad de una guerra y un enfrentamiento civil, porque realmente la rabia entre los dos sectores es bastante grande. Así que la incertidumbre es muy grande. La ciudad está relativamente calmada durante el día, pero cuando llega la noche todo el mundo se esconde porque el que no sale tiene miedo de lo que pueda pasar.
Entrevista de Paula Estañol, RFI
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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is facing backlash from the MAGA base after voting with Democrats and a small group of Republican senators to advance a war powers resolution related to Venezuela — marking a break with President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, the Senate is expected to hold a full vote on the resolution that would limit Trump’s ability to conduct future military operations against Venezuela without Congressional approval, teeing up a test for Hawley with MAGA and its base.
The vote comes after Trump announced Jan. 3 that the U.S. military carried out a successful operation in Venezuela, capturing dictatorial president Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The couple is now being held in a New York City jail on sweeping narco-terrorism conspiracy and drug trafficking charges.
The operation set off condemnation among Democrats who took issue with Trump ordering the mission and strike on Venezuela without prior congressional approval.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS RIP SENATE WAR POWERS PUSH AS ‘POLITICAL THEATER’ AFTER TRUMP’S VENEZUELA RAID
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is facing backlash from the MAGA base after voting with Democrats and a small group of Republican senators to advance a war powers resolution related to Venezuela. (Chip Somodevilla)
Days later, on Jan. 8, the Senate advanced a bipartisan war powers resolution by a 52–47 vote that would require the president to seek congressional authorization before engaging U.S. armed forces in «hostilities within or against Venezuela.» The procedural vote set up a full Senate vote slated for Wednesday.
Hawley joined Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Todd Young, R-Ind., in voting with Democrats to require Trump obtain congressional approval prior to military action in Venezuela, sparking condemnation and surprise from the MAGA base on social media earlier in January.
«The Republicans who sided with Democrats today on the War Powers resolution are STUPID & WEAK,» former campaign aide Alex Bruesewitz posted to X following the procedural vote. «It came as no surprise to see Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, or Todd Young vote against President Trump, they’ve all shown clear signs of Trump Derangement Syndrome in the past.»
Bruesewitz added that he was «surprised and disappointed» by Hawley for aligning «himself with the anti-Trump faction and Democrats, particularly since he represents Missouri, one of the most staunchly pro-Trump states in the nation.»
«Shameful,» he added.
Hawley previously defended his procedural vote by framing it as a constitutional issue rather than a rebuke of the administration.
«My read of the Constitution is that if the President feels the need to put boots on the ground there in the future, Congress would need to vote on it,» Hawley posted to X explaining the vote.
The Trump administration carried out a successful operation in Venezuela Jan. 3, capturing Nicolás Maduro and his wife. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital spoke to a longtime Republican campaign operative working on midterm races, who said Hawley has broken with the administration over a handful of issues, and compared him to former Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who frequently take shots at the president and his policies and draw media attention.
DEMOCRATS’ OWN WORDS BACK UP TRUMP ACTION IN VENEZUELA, TOP INTEL LAWMAKER SAYS
«It seems like every other month he does something that’s opposed to the president and the party more broadly,» the source said.
Trump needs two of the five Republicans to switch their positions ahead of Wednesday’s vote. The president put the five senators on notice following the procedural vote, warning on social media that they «should never be elected to office again.»
Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro addresses supporters in Caracas, Venezuela, on Dec. 10, 2025. (Pedro Rances Mattey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,» he wrote earlier in January. «In any event, and despite their ‘stupidity,’ the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me.»
MAGA allies echoed Trump’s Truth Social message in their own posts, describing Hawley as a «RINO» whose political career is allegedly teetering over the vote.
«President Trump ERUPTS on the Republican senators who just voted to approve the War Powers resolution that would rein in his Venezuela operations, says NEVER ELECT THEM AGAIN,» Eric Daughtery posted to X Jan. 8.
«Remember this in November. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again! We are sick of compromised GOP dirtbags going against our President,» another MAGA-aligned social media account, Farm Girl Carrie, posted.
Hawley told Fox News Tuesday, when asked how he plans to vote, that he’s spoken with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and DOJ officials about his top concern of having American troops on the ground.
He said they «assured me there are no ground troops in Venezuela» and that there «are not going to be ground troops in Venezuela.»
«My big concern has been ground troops in Venezuela and, making sure that if there’s going to be ground troops in Venezuela, (which) I would hope we would not do, that Congress authorizes that. But I will tell you, I’ve talked to the president. I talked to the secretary of state. I talked to the Department of Justice here in the last few days and have had tremendous conversations in the Secretary of State, who I just talked to recently, assured me there are no ground troops in Venezuela. There are not going to be ground troops in Venezuela,» he said. «The administration will notify Congress, will seek congressional approval where necessary.»
Hawley has drawn Trump’s ire before, including during a fight over Hawley’s stock-trading ban proposal in July. Trump, who previously said he liked the idea «conceptually,» accused Hawley of siding with Democrats to block a GOP-backed effort tied to reviewing Nancy Pelosi’s stock trading.
«Why would one ‘Republican,’ Senator Josh Hawley from the Great State of Missouri, join with all of the Democrats to block a Review, sponsored by Senator Rick Scott, and with the support of almost all other Republicans, of Nancy Pelosi’s Stock Trading over the last 25 years. The information was inappropriately released just minutes before the Vote — Very much like SABOTAGE!» Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, introduced the bipartisan bill during a news conference Tuesday. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Hawley has also broken with the administration on domestic policy, repeatedly criticizing Medicaid reforms included in Trump’s «big, beautiful bill» back in 2025, even as he ultimately voted in favor of the sweeping package when it came to the Senate floor.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: GOP REBELS DEFY TRUMP AS CONGRESSIONAL GRIP CONTINUES TO WEAKEN ACROSS MULTIPLE VOTES
The Republican campaign operative said it is unclear why Hawley has broken with the administration on certain policies, speculating he might have 2028 aspirations.
President Donald Trump, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, right, speaks to the press following U.S. military actions in Venezuela, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, Jan. 3, 2026. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
«The polling I’ve seen shows that Republicans are in favor of the president’s actions in Venezuela,» the sourced added. «He would be out of step with our voters. I don’t think it’d bode well for him. I think this was one of the most unifying moments on the right, when the president successfully arrested Maduro and took him out the country. Him siding with the Democrats is bizarre.»
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«How has that worked out for Rand Paul or Massie,» the operative said, referring to Kentucky lawmakers’ ongoing policy spats with the president and administration.
donald trump,senate,venezuelan political crisis,politics
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The U.S. stepped up airstrikes in Somalia in January, targeting al-Shabab and the local affiliate of the Islamic State group, ISIS, according to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).
In a Jan. 12 release, AFRICOM said U.S. forces, working with the Somali federal government, carried out airstrikes against al-Shabab militants.
AFRICOM said the operation was part of ongoing efforts to «degrade the group’s ability to threaten the U.S. homeland, U.S. forces and Americans overseas.»
Airstrikes against ISIS—Somalia were also reported on Jan. 11 and Jan. 9 in northern Somalia, including the Golis Mountains region of Puntland, southeast of Bosaso.
TRUMP VOWS ‘VERY SERIOUS RETALIATION’ AGAINST ISIS AFTER DEADLY SYRIA AMBUSH KILLS US SOLDIERS
U.S. forces conclude an operation targeting ISIS in Somalia in August 2025. (Hannah Kantner/AFRICOM)
Additional airstrikes targeting al-Shabab were reported on Jan. 8, including one in the vicinity of Buur Heybo, about 154 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu.
The command said between the evening of Jan. 3–4, strikes were also conducted «in coordination with Somali authorities.»
AFRICOM said in a release the strikes were part of a broader campaign conducted with Somali partners. No casualty figures were released.
The latest spate of operations comes amid a broader intensification of U.S. airstrikes in Somalia.
According to information released by AFRICOM, between Feb. 1, when the Trump administration conducted its first strike in Somalia in 2025, and June 10, the U.S. carried out 38 airstrikes against al-Shabab and the Islamic State in Somalia.
DEADLY STRIKE ON US TROOPS TESTS TRUMP’S COUNTER-ISIS PLAN — AND HIS TRUST IN SYRIA’S NEW LEADER
Somalia airstrikes escalate as U.S. forces partner with Somali authorities against al-Shabab. (TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)
AFRICOM has said additional strikes have been conducted since June 10.
Independent monitoring organizations have reported a rise in strikes since President Donald Trump returned to office in 2024, according to a report by the Combating Terrorism Center.
The report cited an April 2025 statement by AFRICOM commander Gen. Michael E. Langley before the Senate Armed Services Committee, in which he referenced the potential threat posed by jihadi groups in Africa to the U.S. homeland.
«We are acutely aware that if ISIS and al Qaeda groups continue their expansion, they will pose a direct threat to the U.S. homeland,» Langley said.
«Given this environment, US AFRICOM will work collaboratively with the intelligence community and inter-agency partners to keep the risk to U.S. national security interests low,» Langley said in a statement.
WAR SEC. HEGSETH ISSUES STATEMENT AFTER TWO U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN SYRIA ARE IDENTIFIED
Members of al-Shabab terrorist rebel group parade through the streets of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Jan. 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Feisal Omar)
Al-Shabab, an al Qaeda affiliate, has waged war on Somalia’s government since 2007 and continues to control territory in south-central Somalia.
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ISIS-Somalia is a smaller faction concentrated largely in Puntland’s mountainous northeast, where it is also said to compete with al-Shabab for influence.
According to the U.S.-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Somalia’s conflict with armed groups was the third-deadliest in Africa through 2024, killing an estimated 7,289 people.
Fox News Digital has reached out to AFRICOM for comment.
al qaeda terror,al qaeda,counter terrorism,military,africa,isis,conflicts
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