A lobbyist, a policy director and the CEO of a failing electric vehicle (EV) company walk into the White House and meet with the man responsible for doling out $369 billion in clean energy “investments,” but the White House won’t say what they discussed.
A review of White House visitor logs uncovered the clandestine meeting, Fox News Digital reported Saturday:
“John Podesta, President Biden's clean energy czar, quietly assembled with the head of an electric vehicle (EV) company that relies heavily on taxpayer handouts and has floundered financially since its inception, White House visitor logs reviewed by Fox News Digital show.”
The EV company, Rivian Automotive, has seen its billion-dollar losses mount with each passing year:
- In 2020, it lost $1 billion.
- In 2021, it lost $4.7 billion.
- In 2022, it lost $6.8 billion.
Rivian's stock price is down more than 87% since the company went public in 2021.
Meanwhile, Climate Czar Podesta’s office is responsible for providing taxpayer subsidies (“investments”) from Pres. Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA), which is more dedicated to increasing the federal government expenditures for “green” energy projects, than to addressing inflation.
As Fox News Digital explains:
“Biden appointed Podesta in September 2022 to lead the White House Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation. Among its main tasks, Podesta's office has begun implementing programs in the IRA, Democrats' $739 billion climate and tax bill which enables the government to distribute more than $350 billion worth of loans and grants to green energy projects nationwide.”
According White House logs from June, the following Rivian representatives met with Podesta:
- CEO Robert Scaringe.
- Senior Policy Director Chris Nevers.
- Senior Public Policy Manager Corey Ershow.
- Lobbyist Izzy Klein.
Neither Rivian nor Podesta are saying what was discussed in the meeting - but, the topic of the meeting should be obvious, Power The Future Executive Director Daniel Turner said in a statement:
“This is probably the largest slush fund in American history and it’s all for Joe Biden’s green campaign donors.
“No one should be surprised Joe Biden’s friends are now beating a path to the White House for handouts because none of their green boondoggles would survive without massive taxpayer bailouts.”
Rivian isn’t the only EV manufacturer suffering multi-billion-dollar loses. Earlier this year, Ford increased its projected EV loss from $3 billion to $4.5 billion.
Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Media, summed up the EV market in an interview Saturday: “EVs don’t make money.”