Patrick Pouyanne
Role at the time: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, TotalEnergies
Defended or excused
Response to this claim
The payment TotalEnergies is receiving is not taxpayer money but the return of funds the company itself paid to the Treasury for its leases in 2022.
“my money that I gave in '22 to the Treasury, which is coming back”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Trump's $1B offshore wind payout to TotalEnergies sparks legal concerns · Canary Media
Canary Media report on legal questions surrounding the TotalEnergies settlement, including CEO Patrick Pouyanne's CNBC remarks and a former BOEM director's rebuttal.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Pouyanne defends the payment's legitimacy by characterizing it as the return of the company's own funds rather than an improper use of public money, directly addressing the taxpayer-cost objection at the center of the Judgment Fund dispute.