Crisco just came out with shortening it claims contains no trans fats.
On the ingredient list is "wholly hydrogenated" oil. Is partially
hydrogenated oil a trans fat and wholly hydrogenated oil not?

Crisco's claim is true: fully hydrogenated vegetable oils do not
contain trans fat. The new Crisco formulation is a mixture of fully
hydrogenated cottonseed oil and liquid sunflower and soybean oils (the
liquid oils are also free of trans fat). Without the addition of the
liquid oils, a fully hydrogenated shortening product would be
extremely stiff and difficult to use in cooking.

"Q. Are fully hydrogenated oils even worse than partially hydrogenated oils?

A. No. Surprisingly, fully hydrogenated oils appear to be innocuous."

CSPI Newsroom: About Trans Fat and Partially Hydrogenated Oils
http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/trans_q_a.pdf

"Is fully hydrogenated oil worse than partially hydrogenated oil?

No. In fact just the opposite is true. Fully hydrogenated oil does not
contain trans fat! Partial hydrogenation is a process that rids an oil
of its highly unsaturated fatty acid content and changes anywhere from
5-10 percent to 55 percent or more of the original fatty acids to
trans fatty acids and a number of other unnatural fatty acids.
Hydrogenation, when carried out in its totality, produces only
saturated fatty acids; and a totally saturated oil has the consistency
of a wax and is not appropriate for use in food except in very small
amounts added with emulsifiers to food products such as peanut
butter."

BanTransFats: FAQ
http://www.bantransfats.com/faq.htm

"Trans fatty acids, more commonly called trans fats, are created
during partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils. Hydrogenation is the
process by which hydrogen atoms are added to unsaturated areas on
fatty acids, thus eliminating double bonds. Partial hydrogenation
relocates some double bonds and hydrogen atoms end up across from each
other on the chain...

The flip side of the situation is if an oil product becomes fully
hydrogenated. If you take any oil product and fully hydrogenate it,
that means you can?t make it any harder... In other words, you?ve
broken all the double bonds and placed atoms of hydrogen at every
conceivable point, then those products are trans free. But, they must
be fully hydrogenated to be trans free. That?s why if they are soybean
or canola or cottonseed and they are fully hydrogenated, then you can
drop the trans fats label."

Candy Industry: The ?T F? Word
http://www.candyindustry.com/content.php?s=CI/2004/04&p=9

"J..M. Smucker Company, the owner of the Crisco brand, announced on
April 27, 2004 that it has introduced a shortening with zero grams of
trans fat. The company says: 'New Zero Grams Trans Fat Shortening is
made from a patented blend of sunflower, soy, and cottonseed oils to
create a high-performance shortening with zero grams trans fat per
serving.'

'Crisco' has become synonymous with trans fat. Now that has changed.
As Crisco products are so easily available in stores nationwide,
consumers will now easily be able to find shortening without trans
fat.

According to Kim Severson of the San Francisco Chronicle, the product
is made from fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Fully hydrogenating
the oil eliminates trans fats but makes a fat so hard that it is
impossible to cook with. To soften it up, the product is blended with
sunflower oil and soybean oil."

BanTransFats: Smucker's introduces trans fat-free Crisco shortening
http://www.bantransfats.com/products.htm

"Original Crisco has four grams of trans fat per tablespoon.
Completely hydrogenating oil -- a process that changes the chemical
composition of vegetable oil by using heat and a metal catalyst --
eliminates trans fat but makes a fat that is so hard it is impossible
to cook with. To soften it up, the makers of Crisco blend it with
sunflower and soybean oil.

Tests in The Chronicle kitchen found that the new Crisco does perform
almost the same as original Crisco. It doesn't look the same, exactly.
The new product is not as soft or glossy, and has a starker white
color."

SFGate: Trans fats in foods are down but not out 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/26/FDG6D6O3D91.DTL

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: fully OR wholly hydrogenated "trans fat"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=fully+OR+wholly+hydrogenated+%22trans+fat

I hope this is helpful. If anything is unclear or incomplete, or if a
link doesn't work for you, please request clarification; I'll be glad
to offer further assistance before you rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

Thank you so much for a great, clear answer!