During a jaw-dropping moment during a hearing before the US Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) hammered then-Commissioner Allison Clements of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, getting her to admit to what appeared to be corruption, leaving the senator stunned.
As background, the hearing occurred on May 4, 2023, and, as Commissioner Clements admitted to seeming corruption, was a then-unknown prelude to the sort of Biden-related corruption of the sort that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has found, such as the uninhabited migrant housing center that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were lavished on, or the billions given to Stacey Abrams. During the hearing, Sen. Hawley caught Commissioner Clements admitting to a closed-door meeting with leftist donors and parties interested in the FERC’s rulings, something he insinuated was corruption.
Kicking things off, Sen. Hawley pressed Commissioner Clements on her involvement with a “left-leaning grantmaking foundation” in which she hobnobbed with leftist donors. He said, “Let me turn to Commissioner Clements. Let me ask you–some emails disclosed last year via a FOIA request showed that you briefed a funders-only session at a left-leaning grantmaking foundation called the Energy Foundation about FERC 2022 priorities. Who were the donors who attended that session?”
Attempting to respond, Commissioner Clements tried to defend her appearance at the fundraiser and claim that everything was above board, though accidentally implicating herself as she did so. Doing so, she told the senator, “There was not fundraising in the meeting you ask about. It was a convening of foundation staff from across the country and I was having a very straightforward, above-the-board conversation about 2022 priorities. Subject to my ethics agreement and any ex parte restrictions, I have an open-door policy. So I meet with all kinds of stakeholders. I have actually never said no to a meeting between either my staff taking it or myself.”
Hawley caught her in those comments, noting that what she had just told him conflicted quite strongly with her disclosure. The senator said, calling out that important discrepancy, “Wait a minute. You said it was staff? The FOIA information says it was advertised as a funders-only session, meaning donors.”
As Commissioner Clements equivocated and said she wasn’t sure, Senator Hawley pressed her on what the briefing about the event said, as it noted that donors were there. He said, “It was briefed as a funders-only session, meaning that there were donors there. So who were the donors?”
She then again tried equivocating and explaining away her appearance at a donor-attended event as meeting with “stakeholders,” telling the senator, “I think it is important to understand that my role is to engage with these stakeholders. When I was invited to present to a group of foundation staff, just like when I am invited to present to the board of—-”
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Cutting her off and pressing her on the lie she told and the information revealed, saying, “I don’t understand, you keep using the word staff. The information says there were funders present. There were donors. I want to know who the donors are. Who were the donors? Can you get me a list?”
Later on, when the Biden commissioner again tried using the “stakeholder” term to refer to the donors she met with, Sen. Hawley called her out on it, saying, “You have used stakeholders now several times. Does that include industry donors? Is that a definition of stakeholder now–major donors?” He added, “Do you think it’s appropriate that you would be giving closed-door briefings to donors?”
Then, when she claimed that that isn’t what happened, Clements noted that she had admitted that such is exactly what happened. He said, “What do you mean you didn’t do it? The information says that it was a funders event. It was a funders-only session at a foundation that raises money from donors.”
Further, when she ke[t defending it and claimed that nothing she did in this case was abnormal or wrong, Sen. Hawley snapped, “Oh, wow. Okay, so this is a normal practice of yours to speak to groups that have financial interests in your industry?” He further added, shortly later, “Do you think it is appropriate–my time is running out here–do you think it is appropriate to speak to advocacy groups at a donors-only session? Do you think that is appropriate?” She refused to give a straight answer. Watch him press her here: