Exclusive: Controversial Rhode Island judge who ruled against Trump could financially benefit from his ruling
THE LOWDOWN:
A controversial Rhode Island judge who ruled the Trump admin must unfreeze Inflation Reduction Act funds owns up to a quarter million dollars in stock in a company that benefited from Joe Biden’s Orwellian-named Inflation Reduction Act.
The $75 million awarded to Cummins, the company Judge John McConnell owns stocks in, “is the largest federal grant ever awarded solely to Cummins and is part of the appropriations related to the Inflation Reduction Act,” per the company
McConnell has come under increasing fire from forces aligned with President Donald Trump, including from Rep. Andrew Clyde (R., Ga.) and from America First Legal.
Judge John McConnell, the controversial Rhode Island judge who ruled that the Trump administration must unfreeze Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds, disclosed owning up to $250,000 of stock in a company that received $75 million from the bill he ruled on, according to his financial records obtained by the Washington Reporter.
The $75 million awarded to Cummins, the company McConnell owns stocks in, “is the largest federal grant ever awarded solely to Cummins and is part of the appropriations related to the Inflation Reduction Act,” the company announced in 2024.
Republicans, led by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R., Ga.), have begun to agitate for the impeachment of McConnell, who Clyde recently called a “partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump's funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending.”
While Clyde’s effort is unlikely to succeed, further details about McConnell’s stock ownership could add fuel to the fire. Funding for the $75 million grant via the IRA has yet to go out the door, suggesting that he could financially benefit from his rulings from the bench.
McConnell has come under increasing fire from forces aligned with President Donald Trump, including from America First Legal, which recently demanded that he “immediately vacate his [temporary restraining order] and swiftly recuse himself from this case without delay to comply with his ethical obligations.”
“Judge McConnell has been on the board of an NGO for nearly 20 years, a board he still apparently sits on,” America First Legal wrote. “In that time, that NGO has received over $128 million dollars in government funding from the state, a recipient of federal taxpayer dollars. This NGO, to which he owes a fiduciary duty, stood to lose millions of dollars based on the outcome of his decision in the case.”
