They Said It Was Just for Climate – But Trump’s Team Just Pulled the Covers Off!

The Trump administration has put a stop to a massive $20 billion climate fund, ordering Citibank to freeze the money due to an ongoing criminal investigation. The fund, which was set up under the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is now at the center of a legal and political showdown.

Citibank’s attorney, K. Winn Allen, disclosed in a federal court filing that the bank had been directed by the EPA and the Department of Treasury to halt all further disbursements. The funds had been sitting untouched since President Trump took office in January, despite being distributed in the final days of Biden’s term.

According to Allen, federal investigators recently informed Citibank that the greenhouse fund was “subject to an ongoing criminal investigation.” The FBI requested a 30-day freeze after uncovering “credible information” regarding “possible criminal violations.”

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has demanded that the funding be returned. The agency’s inspector general has also launched an official probe into the matter.

In a video statement released Tuesday, Zeldin described the funding scheme as reckless, citing a Biden administration official caught on a hidden camera comparing it to “throwing gold bars off the edge” of a sinking Titanic. The funds were meant to be funneled through eight newly established or politically connected non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many of which lacked experience in managing such massive sums.

The money was allocated through Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a law passed in 2022 that prioritized climate investments. The legislation initially set aside $27 billion for clean energy initiatives, offering grants and loans to projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

Some of the funds had already reached their recipients before the freeze. One of the groups, Climate United Fund, based in Maryland, received disbursements and has now taken Citibank to court. The organization filed a lawsuit Saturday, seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the Trump administration from reclaiming the money.

The Coalition for Green Capital, another recipient of Biden’s EPA funds, also sued Citibank on Monday. Power Forward Communities, a group started by former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, received $2 billion in grants and followed up with its own lawsuit against the bank on Tuesday.

These organizations argue that Citibank has violated its contractual obligations by withholding the funds. “Citibank has … only done its best to serve its customers while following instructions from the government of the United States, to whom Citibank owes a duty of loyalty and at whose direction Citibank is contractually obligated to act,” Allen stated in the court filing.

Zeldin, in a post on X, hyped up the administration’s efforts to unravel Biden’s regulatory agenda, stating, “Today is going to be the most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history. Stay tuned and buckle up!”

This case is shaping up to be a battle between Trump’s push to claw back federal spending and Biden’s last-minute climate funding spree. With billions at stake and criminal allegations in the mix, the fight over these green “gold bars” is far from over.