Stacey Abrams attacked by Trump and Musk for grant she had little to do with

Mark Niesse, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Mar 20, 2025

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President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have repeatedly attacked Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams over a $2 billion federal grant for energy efficiency projects that she had little to do with.

Abrams worked as an attorney for a nonprofit organization that, in partnership with four other groups, was awarded the grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year. But she didn’t receive any of the money, according to her spokesman and the CEO of one of the groups.

The money was designated to fund energy-efficient housing upgrades — such as heat pumps and solar panels — in low-income areas nationwide through the Inflation Reduction Act, which Congress approved in 2022.

Musk suggested the funding was inappropriate during an appearance on U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s podcast this week.

“The government sent it to you, and nobody from the government asked for it back,” Musk said. “Take, for example, the $1.9 billion given to Stacey Abrams, a fake NGO.”

Earlier this month in his speech to Congress, Trump attacked Abrams as he listed examples of “appalling waste.”

“Headed up — and we know she was involved … by a woman named Stacey Abrams,” Trump said. “Have you ever heard of her?”

Abrams defended herself after Trump’s March 4 address.

“I’m proud of my work protecting civil rights & lowering energy costs for Georgians. Someone has to deliver — because Trump is taking our hard-earned money to cut Elon Musk’s taxes,” Abrams wrote on X.

Abrams, a lawyer and a two-time candidate for Georgia governor, did not head up any organization involved in the grant. From March 2023 to December 2024, she was senior counsel for Rewiring America, part of a coalition of five groups called Power Forward Communities that combined in 2023 to apply for the $2 billion grant. The other groups are Enterprise Community Partners, Habitat for Humanity International, Local Initiatives Support Corporation and United Way.

“Stacey Abrams has not received a penny of this EPA grant,” said Tim Mayopoulos, the CEO of Power Forward Communities, in an interview with Politico. “Power Forward Communities has no relationship with Ms. Abrams, other than the fact that she’s one of the people who have advised one of our coalition members in the past.”

In her role as senior counsel for Rewiring America, Abrams helped identify potential partners for the coalition working on the grant, but she wasn’t paid with federal funds or by Power Forward Communities, said her spokesman, Joshua Karp.

Trump’s EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, terminated the grant funding based on concerns about “misconduct, conflicts of interest and potential fraud.” The EPA also cited “misalignment with the agency’s priorities.”

A federal judge temporarily blocked the EPA from ending the grants to Power Forward Communities and two other environmental groups on Tuesday, saying the EPA had provided only “vague and unsubstantiated assertions” to back up concerns about waste and fraud.

The EPA declined to answer questions by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution seeking more information about its allegations that Power Forward Communities was “unqualified.”

“In keeping with a long-standing practice, EPA does not comment on pending litigation,” the agency said in an emailed statement.

Rewiring America didn’t respond to an email seeking comment. Power Forward Communities referred questions to articles by Politico and PolitiFact.

Zeldin’s EPA has also alleged that the Power Forward Communities wasn’t qualified because it only reported $100 in revenue in 2023, the year it was founded by its five member groups. But the organization’s grant application in 2024 said it has “deployed or invested over $100 billion in community-based housing, health, environmental, and economic development initiatives.”

The EPA has also questioned the timing of the grant. The agency published a news release questioning “why did the Biden administration rush to execute the transfers out of government after Election Day?”

However, a government spending website shows the $2 billion transaction occurred three months before Election Day. An amendment to the grant agreement in December revised compliance terms, termination provisions and definitions but didn’t alter the amounts.

The grant money is currently held by Citibank, which refused to distribute funds to the grant recipients based on instructions from the EPA and the Department of Treasury, according to court documents.