Trump v. Obama

As POTUS looks to cut waste, there's a hidden hand still holding on

Feb 16, 2025

So right now the revelations regarding DOGE and US AID are all the rage in our media (well, the media that hasn’t been fully complicit). No need to recount the instances of US AID’s corruption here — it would take a month and the investigation has only just started.

But is there potentially an even bigger federal boondoggle unfolding?

Upon getting the seat at the Environmental Protection Agency, newly appointed Lee Zeldin took a quick look at the books at his new agency. Hoo boy.

As has been widely reported, $20 billion went out the door from the EPA after Joe Biden lost the election, but before Donald Trump was sworn in. Apparently, someone in the Biden administration decided that a hidden slush fund to support a never-enacted Green New Deal was entirely permissible.

Now let’s look at just one of the places it went.

The money landed with eight different organizations, with $8 billion going to something called the “Climate United Fund,” which the Biden administration had already awarded nearly $7 billion.

Climate United is a 501(c)3 that states on its tax return that it provides “grants, loans, and other forms of financial assistance to enable low income and disadvantaged communites to deploy, or benefit from, zero-emission technologies.”

Because of course poor people are generally worried about their carbon footprint. Gotcha.

Now, the bios of the leaders of Climate United apppear to have been scrubbed from their website. But digging a bit, here are quick backgrounders on some of the key leaders of the fund — who are currently sitting on at least $15 billion of our money.

First, the Climate United’s CEO: Beth Bafford

According to her own (rather brief) bio: “Beth was a community organizer on the 2008 Obama Campaign where their motto was “Respect, Empower, Include” and she tries to live by that motto every day since!”

And here are key members of the Board of Directors that InfluenceWatch names:

Dolores Huerta

Huerta is 94 years old, a “renowned American labor leader and civil rights activist,” who co-founded the United Farm Workers union alongside Cesar Chavez. President Obama awarded her the Presidential Award for Freedom in 2012 and recently wished her happy birthday on X.

Anthony Foxx

Foxx, 53 years old, is a lawyer and politician. He served as the 17th U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President Barack Obama, and was the Mayor of Charlotte from 2009 to 2013.

Phil Angelides

Angelides, 71 years old, served as the California State Treasurer from 1999 to 2007 and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of California in 2006. He also chaired the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission from 2009 to 2011, leading the nation's official inquiry into the causes of the financial and economic crisis under President Barack Obama. Obama and Angelides go way back.

Patrice Willoughby

Willougby was Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus during Obama’s first term, and was then appointed to the General Services Administration as Deputy Associate Administrator for Policy. More recently, she’s been the Managing Director of DEI at The Signal GroupDC, an outfit that “influence(s) policy to drive business outcomes.” She is currently Chief of Policy and Legislative Affairs for the NAACP.

Now readers — is it me, or do you see a certain name recurring regularly?

Let’s keep going. According to the Climate Fund’s tax return covering 2023, the firm had only taken in $546,901 in total capital in 2023 — yet paid out most of it (over 450 thousand) in legal expenses and what it terms “Consulting: Program Service Expenses.”

So: In less than a year, this group went from $500,000 in assets… to $15 billion.

And a final detail (and perhaps the most concerning): according to InfluenceWatch, Climate United is actually “a coalition of three left-of-center nonprofit finance institutions, Calvert Impact Capital, the Community Preservation Corporation, and the Self-Help Credit Union.”

Let’s focus on Calvert. Jennifer Pryce, President and CEO of Calvert, is a member of The Climate United Fund’s board, and is listed on their 2023 tax return.

Canadian-born Derek Strocher (formerly of the World Bank), is Calvert’s Chief Financial Officer. He is also listed on the Climate United tax return, as “the person who has the organization’s books and records.”

So, in simplified terms: lurking behind The Climate United Fund is Calvert Capital.

And there’s the issue. Calvert Capital, a financial behemoth, describes itself as “a global (my emphasis) nonprofit investment firm that helps all types of investors and financial professionals invest in solutions that benefit people and the planet.”

In fact, our man Derek Strocher states on his LinkedIn page that Calvert Capital has invested “over $1 billion in more than 100 countries” (my emphasis) in order to achieve “positive social impact.”

In other words: That $15 billion that this crew just got, to further a green energy agenda that wasn’t approved by U.S. voters and has shown no signs of actually replacing fossil fuels?

There is every chance much of it will end up overseas.

We Couldn’t Love This More

If you haven’t seen it yet: here’s all you need re: Elon, DOGE, and US AID:

Congressman Mark Green of Tennessee. Now you know why it’s one of the nation’s fastest growing states.

THE SUNDAY POD: Garry McCarthy, Former Chicago PD Superintendent, On Chicago, Opiods, And Much More

Join us over at the podcast this week for a chat with former Chicago top cop Garry McCarthy, where we discuss the (woeful) state of Chicago, the bias of the DOJ, and the continuing issue of opioid deaths.

One of our nation’s premier law enforcement executives, nobody out there has more insight into these issues — from personal (and alas, tragic) experience. You need to hear it from him.

Can anything be done to fix all this?

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