The Trump admin is accusing EPA of squirreling away $20 billion in ‘gold bars.’ Here’s what’s really going on. | CNN

See all topics Shortly after being sworn in as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin accused the previous administration of stashing $20 billion worth of “gold bars” in a Citibank account and vowed to claw the money back to the Treasury. The new environment chief has frequently touted a theory, spurred by a video from right-wing activist group Project Veritas, that the Biden administration unlawfully awarded $20 billion to progressive ventures. In that video, a Biden-era EPA employee compared the rush to get Congress’s climate law funding out the door before Trump took office to tossing gold bars off the Titanic. “It’s a clear-cut case of waste and abuse,” Zeldin told Fox News in February. “The entire scheme, in my opinion, is criminal. We found the gold bars; we want them back.” In reality, the “gold bars” are congressionally appropriated funds from a 2022 climate law, meant to be distributed to small, nonprofit lenders that focus on energy efficiency and clean energ...