In a stunning revelation, EPA Director Lee Zeldin laid out in a new interview with Miranda Devine how Obama and Biden officials turned the Environmental Protection Agency into a slush fund for the left. Officials laundered billions of taxpayer dollars through politically connected nonprofits beyond any meaningful oversight.
On Devine’s “Pod Force One” podcast, Zeldin recalled how the scandal first came to light during his confirmation hearings. A Project Veritas video had caught a Biden EPA employee bragging about the agency “tossing gold bars off the Titanic,” desperately rushing billions of dollars out the door before Donald Trump took office.
“He was also talking about the desire to get themselves jobs at the recipient NGOs,” Zeldin recalled. Republican senators pressed him during confirmation hearings to make uncovering the scheme a priority. “Absolutely, was my response—with great enthusiasm and eagerness.”
Once in office, Zeldin said his team quickly discovered an entrenched network of left-wing corruption. “Basically, every time we overturned a rock, we found something under it that was either filled with self-dealing and conflicts of interest, unqualified recipients, or reduced agency oversight.”
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According to Zeldin, the massive infusion of cash came from the poorly named Inflation Reduction Act, which dumped tens of billions into the EPA. “Well, EPA didn’t know how to spend tens of billions of dollars, so they decided to park $20 billion at an outside bank and have that bank send the money through eight pass-through entities,” he said.
And those pass-through groups contained rampant conflicts and stacked “former Obama and Biden officials, Democratic donors.” What’s worse, Zeldin said, is that the structure deliberately concealed where the money ultimately ended up.
Sounds a lot like the Biden Crime Family’s network of shell companies to me.
“The EPA was a party to the account control agreement with those prime recipients,” Zeldin said. “But here’s the thing: when the money goes through the prime recipients to others, in many cases also pass-throughs, EPA is no longer a party to the account control agreement. EPA is losing oversight, by design, intentionally, these grant agreements and arrangements were set up to tie EPA’s hands behind its back.”
Even now, Zeldin said the agency cannot fully track the funds: “I could sit here with you, and you could ask me 10, 15, 20 of the first most important questions that come to mind as far as where the money was going after it leaves the pass-through entities. And the crazy thing is how little I would be able to answer, even today, this far after Inauguration Day. That is by design.”
When Devine asked whether there was any way to recover the $20 billion, Zeldin insisted there was. “Absolutely. This has been going through a litigation process. It’s set in an appeals court right now in the federal court system. And we are basically at the end of the closeout period now because when these grants get terminated, there’s a 120-day closeout period.”
He expressed confidence that taxpayers could reclaim the money. “They tossed the gold bars off the Titanic. I was told to go out and find the gold bars. We found the gold bars, and we’re bringing them back on board. We’re doing that for the American public, and we’re proud of it.”
🚨 EPA Head Lee Zeldin Says His Agency Was Used to Funnel BILLIONS From the Inflation Reduction Act to Fmr. Obama & Biden Officials
“They decided to park $20 billion at an outside bank and … send the money through eight NGO’s … that were riddled with … conflicts of interest” pic.twitter.com/WDqXWUHIBh
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 20, 2025
What Zeldin uncovered is staggering, but it also proves that we can fight and stop corruption. For years, Democrats treated the EPA like their own personal ATM, funneling billions to friends, donors, and former officials. Now, Zeldin and his team are tracing, recovering, and bringing back under control the $20 billion. And this is exactly why Democrats are so terrified of the Trump administration.
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