Energy Secretary Chris Wright has repeatedly denied that politics were involved in the termination of more than 280 grants last October. A court filing made public in July, however, shows that Energy Department lawyers admitted that the only reason those awards, and not others, were canceled was that the grant recipients were in states that vote for Democrats.
Wright and the department have maintained that political considerations did not factor into the original selection of grants for termination, which included awards in both blue and red states for clean energy or energy efficiency projects. But in terms of which grants were ultimately cut, whether they were located in a state that voted for President Donald Trump mattered.
