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Biden’s energy secretary took meeting with Bill Gates immediately after Senate confirmation

Source image: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-energy-secretary-took-meeting-bill-gates-immediately-senate-confirmation

EXCLUSIVE: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm met with billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates almost immediately after she was confirmed by the Senate, internal agency calendars showed.

Granholm’s meeting with Gates, who is also the co-founder of the billion-dollar Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which funds worldwide climate initiatives, took place at noon on Feb. 26, 2021, about 24 hours after she was confirmed to the position, according to internal documents obtained by government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) and shared with Fox News Digital. The meeting with Gates marked Granholm’s first private meeting with a non-government official, according to her calendar.

“This is just another example showing D.C. as an insiders’ game for the wealthy and powerful, and regular people need not apply,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain told Fox News Digital.

“With all of the media interviews and getting acquainted with the employees she’ll be working with, on her first day she made sure to make time for Bill Gates, one of the richest people in the world,” he continued. “And that wasn’t even the only time they met. It’s easy to see who has the real influence in Washington.”

PETE BUTTIGIEG REGULARLY CONSULTS DARK MONEY-FUNDED GREEN GROUPS, CALENDAR ENTRIES SHOW

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks during her Senate confirmation hearing in January 2021.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks during her Senate confirmation hearing in January 2021.
(Jim Watson/Pool via AP)

The meeting came only after Granholm met once with the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, once with the Department of Energy’s pool of political appointees, once with former acting Energy Secretary Dave Huizenga and participated in six media interviews.

In addition to the meeting, Granholm met again with Gates about a month later on March 30, 2021. The DOE has only provided PPT with internal calendar records through July 2021.

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Gates, meanwhile, has been a vocal proponent of an aggressive green transition from fossil fuel production to alternative energy sources such as wind and solar. The business magnate has frequently spoken at and attended global conferences like the World Economic Forum annual meeting to speak about the importance of staving off global warming.

“We have to replace every single piece of infrastructure dedicated to doing things the old way with infrastructure dedicated to doing things in a new way — and that doesn’t happen instantly, especially considering the mind-boggling scale of the job,” Gates wrote in a blog post in October.

“For example, there are currently 2,412 coal-fired power plants in the world, and that number is still going up. Every single one of those plants will have to be replaced,” he continued.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Chairman Bill Gates speaks during the New Economy Forum, Nov. 21, 2019, in Beijing, China.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Chairman Bill Gates speaks during the New Economy Forum, Nov. 21, 2019, in Beijing, China.
(Hou Yu/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

In 2015, Gates founded Breakthrough Energy, a group that invests heavily in green energy development

The firm has also partnered with various entities, including financial institutions like BlackRock and Bank of America, which have pushed environmental, social and governance measures to use the financial sector to combat climate change and curb fossil fuel investment.

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And the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, have funneled billions of dollars through, has funded groups across the world dedicated to pushing the green transition.

For example, in 2021, the foundation awarded the World Resources Institute with a $1.2 million grant and the United Nations Foundation with a $2.9 million grant, according to tax filings. Both organizations have advocated for the green transition.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also wired more than $83.7 million to the New Venture Fund (NVF), a key cog in the nation’s largest liberal dark money network operated by the firm Arabella Advisors. Last year, the NVF funded major environmental organizations, like the Environmental Defense Fund and League of Conservation Voters, which have applied significant pressure on the Biden administration to take more action on climate change.

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“The climate crisis is causing enormous harm every day as it jeopardizes entire regions of people and economies,” Gates said in a statement issued earlier this month during a United Nations climate conference.

“More funding is necessary to ensure agricultural and technological innovations are widely available to vulnerable communities, helping them to adapt to climate change, save lives and increase economic growth.”

The Department of Energy and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-energy-secretary-took-meeting-bill-gates-immediately-senate-confirmation

Politics

Michigan man pleads guilty to assisting Whitmer kidnapping scheme

A man accused of aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor pleaded guilty Wednesday, the ninth conviction in state and federal courts since agents broke up an astonishing scheme by anti-government rebels in 2020.

Shawn Fix said he provided material support for an act of terrorism, namely the strategy to snatch Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home in Antrim County. Prosecutors agreed to drop a weapon charge.

Fix trained with a militia, the Wolverine Watchmen, for “politically motivated violence,” prosecutors have said, and hosted a five-hour meeting at his Belleville home where there was much discussion about kidnapping Whitmer.

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Fix, 40, acknowledged helping plot leader Adam Fox pinpoint the location of Whitmer’s home, key information that was used for a 2020 ride to find the property in northern Michigan.

“Guilty,” Fix told the judge.

Shawn Fix

Shawn Fix has pleaded guilty to his role in the planned kidnapping of Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. (AP Photo/John Flesher)

He appeared in an Antrim County court, one of five people charged in that leg of the investigation. A co-defendant pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in March, leaving three other men to face trial in August.

Fix, who faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, agreed to testify if called by prosecutors.

The main kidnapping conspiracy case was handled in federal court, where four men, including ringleaders Fox and Barry Croft Jr., were convicted. Two others were acquitted.

WISCONSIN MAN CHARGED IN WHITMER KIDNAPPING PLOT TO CHANGE PLEA

Separately, three men were convicted at trial in Jackson County, the site of militia training, and are serving long prison terms.

Whitmer, a Democrat, was targeted as part of a broad effort by anti-government extremists to trigger a civil war around the time of the 2020 presidential election, investigators said. Her COVID-19 policies, which shut down schools and restricted the economy, were deeply scorned by foes.

But informants and undercover FBI agents were inside the group for months, leading to arrests in October 2020. Whitmer was not physically harmed.

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After the plot was thwarted, Whitmer blamed then-President Donald Trump, saying he had given “comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division.” Last August, after 19 months out of office, Trump called the kidnapping plan a “fake deal.”

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Politics

Utah Rep. Chris Stewart to step down from Congress in September

U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, on Wednesday officially submitted his letter of resignation from Congress. 

In a letter to Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, Stewart said he would be stepping down as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives effective Sept. 15. 

Utah Rep. Chris Stewart addresses supporters at an election night party

FILE: Utah Rep. Chris Stewart talks to supporters during an Utah Republican election night party on June 28, 2022, in South Jordan, Utah.  (Photo/George Frey, File)

“It has been one of the great honors of my life to serve the good people of Utah in Congress,” Stewart said.

Stewart, a six-term lawmaker, announced his plans to leave Congress last month due to his wife’s illness. 

His resignation would leave open a Republican seat on the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees — and reduce an already narrow GOP majority to just four seats.

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Utah law states that the governor must call for a special election in the event of a House vacancy. Once Stewart makes his resignation official, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox will have seven days to set the time for a primary and special election. 

The law requires those dates to be the same as municipal primary and general elections scheduled for this year, unless the state legislature appropriates funds to hold a separate election.

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Though Stewart’s departure will mean one less Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, it is not expected to affect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ability to steer a tight Republican majority. 

The district is reliably Republican and Stewart defeated a Democratic challenger by more than 30 percentage points in 2022.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report. 

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Politics

Trump attorneys notified former president is target of criminal investigation

Federal prosecutors reportedly notified former President Donald Trump’s attorneys that he is the target of a criminal investigation regarding his handling of classified materials after serving as commander in chief, two sources with knowledge of the ongoing grand jury probe confirm to Fox News.

Trump’s handling of classified materials after leaving office in 2021 has been the focus of an investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed as special counsel on the matter in November 2022.

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower, Monday, April 3, 2023, in New York. Trump arrived in New York on Monday for his expected booking and arraignment the following day on charges arising from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign.  (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

The appointment came just months after the FBI searched for missing classified documents in a raid at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Aug. 8, 2022.

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That Justice Department notification came days ago, said sources, and is in indication the Special Prosecutor may be close to deciding whether to bring charges in the months long investigation. The fact prosecutors privately informed Trump’s lawyers he is a target is another indication, sources said, that the former president’s own actions on handling classified material are the focus of the investigation.

Notifying individuals they are a target is a routine part of criminal investigations done at the discretion of prosecutors, but charges may not ultimately be filed.

Trump’s legal team met privately at the Justice Department with Smith and some of his team to discuss the grand jury investigation.

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To be clear, Trump has not, nor does this suggest that he will be charged with a crime.

The notification is simply to notify the former president that he has become a target, and to allow him time to present evidence in front of a grand jury.

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