Sen. Josh Hawley is demanding a hearing probing Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s recent acknowledgment that she gave false testimony about her stock ownership.
Earlier this month, Granholm admitted that she wrongly told Hawley during an April appearance before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that she didn’t own any individual stocks.
“The facts of Secretary Granholm’s case are disturbing,” Hawley wrote in a Wednesday letter to committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-WV).
“These latest revelations come in the context of an Energy Department that has been reported to have serious, systemic problems with ethics compliance when it comes to stock ownership and conflicts of interest.”
“I therefore urge you to convene a hearing with Secretary Granholm to discuss both the Secretary’s false testimony and the steps the Department is taking to ensure senior officials properly comply with federal ethics laws,” Hawley added.
A spokesperson for the committee explained that a hearing on Granholm likely wouldn’t be squeezed into the panel’s schedule.
However, Manchin was willing to organize a one-on-one meeting between Hawley and Granholm, the rep added.
“The upcoming Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee schedule has already been set well in advance, and in the interest of expediting his request, Chairman Manchin will be happy to request a meeting between Secretary Granholm and Senator Hawley to answer any questions he may have,” the spokesperson said in a statement obtained by The Post.
Hawley had grilled Granholm about whether she owned individual stocks during her April 20 appearance.
“No, I’m invested in mutual funds,” Granholm said, reiterating her statement multiple times.
In a June 9 letter to the committee, Granholm divulged that she discovered she did, in fact, own individual stock in six companies during her April testimony and offloaded the last of them on May 18. Her letter didn’t specify which companies.
Moreover, Granholm added, her husband, Daniel Mulhern, owned shares in Ford Motor Company that were sold on May 15.
“I mistakenly told the Committee that I did not own any individual stocks, whereas I should have said that I did not own any conflicting stocks,” Granholm wrote, promising to provide further details in her annual public financial disclosure report.
A representative for Granholm didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
