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FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

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Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#81

Post by llamaimperative »

londons_explore wrote: post #48
llamaimperative wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If both sides do it, then they should be able to publish better evidence than Stacey Abrams’ “ties” to Power Forward Communities. The fact that all the DOGE and DOGE-adjacent claims of fraud have been so shamefully weak has actually reduced my confidence that the alleged behavior is actually widespread at all.

My guess is because it isn't textbook fraud. Everything is being done legally and by the book. But the money is still ending up in the pockets of friends by making sure it's friends NGO's that know and meet the exact requirements. Afterwards, any investigation will find that a fair dispersement process was done, and this NGO just happened to hit every requirement perfectly whilst all others didn't meet some requireme…

Share evidence of the non-textbook fraud then.

Or is this belief just formed form whole cloth with literally no evidence, just vibes?

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#82

Post by beebaween »

beebaween wrote: post #65
npvrite wrote: post #55

[flagged]

This is a private bank hoarding government (tax payer) dollars for seemingly no reason. The money sure as heck wasn't being used for "climate action". As an environmentalist and just someone who thinks the gov shouldn't be offshoring billions of dollars I fully support gov orgs looking into this... It's easy to let politics color the perception of this but I for one although I dislike the current president support th…

Idk why anyone who's "anti establishment" wants to rail against the gov or any reg body looking into... banks doing sketchy things with taxpayer money that should... improve the environment and tax payer's lives.

What on earth happened to ppl on HN?

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#83

Post by kristjansson »

lazyeye wrote: post #60

Non-profits and ngos have such enormous potential for fraud and abuse. You get your political friends to setup an ngo, give it a nice name like "Climate Progress Coalition" or "Equity Action Network" etc. Hand it a billion dollars of hard-earned taxpayer money and it can then do (without oversight) what would be illegal for the govt to do with oversight. The potential for abuse is limitless...million-dollar salaries,…

Yes yes American nonprofits, with their mandatory annual public financial disclosures including key individuals salaries, famously a great and easy way to misappropriate monies.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#84

Post by caycep »

not2b wrote: post #40
Huntsecker wrote: post #7

daily stories coming from the US are pretty crazy, FBI being used as a tool to try and revert something from under the previous administration. Feels like whatever balances and checks that should be in place to stop an autocracy are missing

A president can revert an executive order from the previous administration. But the Inflation Reduction Act is a law, not an executive order. If Trump doesn't like it, he can get Congress to repeal it. But he isn't the king. The constitution requires that the president "take care that the laws be faithfully executed". It isn't fraud when funds that were allocated by the act were distributed according to the act. If s…

the problem is there has to be credible enforcement. Either a credible threat of impeachment, or a separate branch of Us Marshals that works directly for the judiciary or something.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#85

Post by fzeroracer »

beebaween wrote: post #65
npvrite wrote: post #55

[flagged]

This is a private bank hoarding government (tax payer) dollars for seemingly no reason. The money sure as heck wasn't being used for "climate action". As an environmentalist and just someone who thinks the gov shouldn't be offshoring billions of dollars I fully support gov orgs looking into this... It's easy to let politics color the perception of this but I for one although I dislike the current president support th…

This is an incredibly false characterization of the situation. Demanding that accounts be frozen while producing zero evidence for your claims isn't an investigation. Nor is it even following the bare minimum of the law.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#86

Post by actionfromafar »

beebaween wrote: post #65
npvrite wrote: post #55

[flagged]

This is a private bank hoarding government (tax payer) dollars for seemingly no reason. The money sure as heck wasn't being used for "climate action". As an environmentalist and just someone who thinks the gov shouldn't be offshoring billions of dollars I fully support gov orgs looking into this... It's easy to let politics color the perception of this but I for one although I dislike the current president support th…

So, were are the arrests for all the "fraud"? Congress spent the money, it's not for Trump to steal.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#87

Post by marcusverus »

tdeck wrote: post #75
bufferoverflow wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Of course as is typical this comment comes with no evidence. Meanwhile we're supposed to believe that Trump supporters care about corruption when he did this? https://www.npr.org/2025/02/10/g-s1-47817/trump-pardon-rod-b...

Yeah... neither party has leg to stand on when it comes to pardons. That specific pardon wasn't even the worst within the preceding 30 days!

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#88

Post by roamerz »

not2b wrote: post #40
Huntsecker wrote: post #7

daily stories coming from the US are pretty crazy, FBI being used as a tool to try and revert something from under the previous administration. Feels like whatever balances and checks that should be in place to stop an autocracy are missing

A president can revert an executive order from the previous administration. But the Inflation Reduction Act is a law, not an executive order. If Trump doesn't like it, he can get Congress to repeal it. But he isn't the king. The constitution requires that the president "take care that the laws be faithfully executed". It isn't fraud when funds that were allocated by the act were distributed according to the act. If s…

>>The constitution requires that the president "take care that the laws be faithfully executed".

You mean like Biden enforcing our border laws?

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#89

Post by kristopolous »

sharemywin wrote: post #2

“Can you proffer any evidence that [the grant] was illegal, or evidence of abuse or fraud or bribery — that any of that was improperly or unlawfully done, other than the fact that Mr. Zeldin doesn’t like it?” Judge Tanya Chutkan said. Judge Chutkan also ordered the Justice Department to provide the court with details about the alleged fraud, “because I don’t have the credible evidence that’s required.” This whole cal…

Traditionally when people are on an endless campaign of accusation, they are actually up to their ears in whatever they're accusing others of. The anti-gay politician is exposed as gay, the evangelical pastor is leading a life of excess and vice, people talking about fake news fabricate deceptions and try to pass it off as news... This is generally so reliable, you can just change the pronouns from "They" to "We" and get an accurate statement.

I'm pretty sure the actual fraud and abuse here is coming from inside the house. Claiming the richest man in the world isn't motivated by money is like claiming Jeffrey Epstein wasn't motivated by sex.

Re: FBI, EPA, and Treasury told Citibank to freeze funds to claw back climate money

#90

Post by kristopolous »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #12
Huntsecker wrote: post #7

daily stories coming from the US are pretty crazy, FBI being used as a tool to try and revert something from under the previous administration. Feels like whatever balances and checks that should be in place to stop an autocracy are missing

In theory, congress can remove a president. Start placing your bets! Does he get removed before he dissolves congress? :) I’m only partial joking. The check and balances in the country won’t work if half the population wants to replace democracy with theocracy.

Republicans are the right wing party, Democrats are the conservative. That's why their response is to uphold the status quo and existing power structures while they do ineffective, ceremonial, wonky frittering around the edges.

Their progressive policies were adopted after Fortune 500 and major institutions had changed theirs.

Whether it be climate change or gay marriage, established companies like Goldman Sachs and Amazon were there first and the Democrats followed because they desperately align themselves with the status-quo regardless of where it is.

Just scroll through the Google News result for "Democrats". People scratch their heads because they assume they're supposed to be oppositional as opposed to institutional.

Once you understand they're the party of establishment, status quo and hegemony, there's literally no more confusion on their motivations or lack of action.

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