Bernie Sanders blasts Trump after court admission on grant: 'It's authoritarianism'

WASHINGTON, DC: Senator Bernie Sanders accused the Trump administration of acting like an authoritarian government after a court filing acknowledged that a tranche of federal green energy grant cancellations was selected solely based on the political identity of recipient states.

The Vermont independent said the filing confirmed long-standing Democratic accusations. He argued the admission raised fresh questions about how taxpayer money was used in deciding which projects were cut.

Bernie Sanders cites court filing

Writing on X on Saturday, July 25, Sanders declared, "The Trump administration admitted in court that it canceled billions of dollars in federal funding 'based solely' on whether a state voted for Trump."

He continued, "Using taxpayer dollars to reward political allies and punish opponents is not democracy. It's authoritarianism."

Sanders' remarks followed a recent court filing from Department of Energy lawyer Jeff Novak detailing how hundreds of green energy grants were reviewed for termination.

According to Novak, the Department of Energy initially identified 624 grants for possible cancellation. 

He said the White House Office of Management and Budget selected 284 of those grants for an October tranche of terminations, while the remaining 340 grants were not canceled.

Novak wrote, "DOE accepts that the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient's state."

He also stated that the grants' inclusion was not "based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction, or performance-based factor."

Democrats say filing validates concerns

The filing also said that political identity was not considered when the Department of Energy created its original list of 624 potential cancellations.

Novak indicated that the political consideration came when OMB chose which grants would ultimately be included in the October notice.

Last year, OMB Director Russell Vought announced nearly $8 billion in green energy funding cuts, highlighting grants in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

Energy Department defends Chris Wright

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has repeatedly testified on Capitol Hill that although the announcement's timing may have been political, the actual grant selections were not.

Energy Department spokesperson Ben Dietderich defended those statements in an email, saying, "None of the termination decisions were based on political considerations."

He added that Wright's previous testimony "are still correct."

Top Democratic appropriators rejected that explanation after the filing became public.

"This administration has now admitted in court what has long been obvious: it terminated nearly 300 cost-cutting energy projects for no reason other than the fact that the states they were in did not vote for the president in the 2024 election," Sen Patty Murray of Washington and Rep Marcy Kaptur of Ohio said in a joint statement.

They added, "This is an astounding admission that the president and his team corruptly abused their power to kill good jobs and punish hard-working families because of their political views."

The lawmakers also targeted Wright's earlier testimony, saying, "Secretary Wright swore up and down for months that these project terminations had absolutely nothing to do with politics, and now his lawyers are declaring that, in fact, politics was the only consideration."

The latest filing goes further than a similar filing last year by stating the grants were selected "based solely" on politics.