Congressional Republicans demand investigation of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm's financial conflicts of interest

• GOP leaders want Jennifer Granholm's stock trades thoroughly scrutinized.
• It's the second complaint Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso has filed against Granholm.

A pair of congressional Republicans are demanding that the Energy Department's internal watchdog investigate agency chief Jennifer Granholm's late stock filings, according to a letter obtained exclusively by Insider.

The lawmakers' demands come in response to Insider's report that revealed Granholm had violated a federal conflicts-of-interest and transparency law by failing to report up to $240,000 in stock sales in a timely manner over the past year.

"It is not clear if Department of Energy (DOE) ethics officials have given proper attention to these flagrant violations," Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ranking member John Barrasso of Wyoming and House Committee on Energy and Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington wrote to Energy Department Inspector General Teri Donaldson in a joint letter sent to the agency late Tuesday.

Granholm, whose personal finances have come under fire before, reported making nine stock trades between April 30, 2021, and October 26, 2021. But she disclosed the sales to the Office of Government Ethics on December 15, 2021, and December 16, 2021 — either weeks or months past a 30-day disclosure deadline prescribed by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012.

Barrasso asked Donaldson to dig into Granholm's affairs a year earlier, calling for an investigation into her financial ties to Proterra, Inc., a developer of zero-emission electric vehicles, last April.

Barrasso and McMorris Rodgers wrote that they were concerned, this time around, by Granholm disavowing any knowledge of being notified about the series of stock transactions past the 30-day deadline baked into the law.

"A plea of ignorance by Secretary Granholm is not an acceptable defense for the violation of federal law," the Republicans wrote, adding that investigators must do their due diligence.

"It is imperative that impropriety on the part of federal officials is taken seriously and that the dignity of the offices in which they serve is upheld."

The lawmakers gave Donaldson until February 28 to conduct a thorough review and deliver her findings to Congress — which is two days shorter than lawmakers and senior congressional staff have to comply with STOCK Act requirements.

Department of Energy staff did not respond to a request for a comment about the Barrasso-McMorris Rodgers letter.

Granholm's STOCK Act violations follow Insider's "Conflicted Congress" project, which revealed how dozens of federal lawmakers and at least 182 senior-level congressional staffers have violated the STOCK Act, and detailed how conflicts-of-interest abound. Together, they've avoided serious consequences.