Thread: Congress Forced Subpoena Obama's Budget Office: Solyndra

Why Was Congress Forced To Subpoena Head Of Obama's Budget Office To Get Info On Solyndra?

Submitted by Tyler Durden
09/19/2011 22:30 -0400
Comments: 42 / Reads: 4,550
many links on this post

As more developments arise in the Solyndra case, we find the specifics of how it was none other than Jacob Lew, the head of the Office Management Bureau, elsewhere known as the guy who puts together all those forecasts that Obama pulls out of his hat as seeing growth of 3.7% in 2012 here and budget savings of $4 trillion there, got subpoenaed, and not just over anything, but over the deal that is rapidly becoming Obama's Solargate: Solyndra. As a recap: the man who is the "expert" on how the US will get out of its multi-trillion deficit had to be subpoenaed by Congress to explain his secretive actions that ended up most likely harming US taxpayers for reasons still unknown (but not for long), and what is far worse, Congress has to subpoena the head of the OMB because it failed to exercise proper oversight of the stimulus money in the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act... and all this under the tutelage of a White House which recently won an award for Anti-Secrecy....which was present to the president by among other Gary Bass of OMB Watch...And somehow we are expected to believe that fiscal stimulus in America has even a remote chance of being allocated productively (a fatal Keynesian flaw which Andy Lees described earlier) instead of pumping up crony capitalism schemes that enrich vested interests, and which drown in opacity and obscurity over which not even Congress has any supervision?

Lew subpoena link here. http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/ ... %20OMB.pdf

And where it gets fun is reading through the slides that have been prepared as part of the production for current and future testimony... and believe us, there will be much more future testimony, as republicans have smelled blood shooting straight out of a punctured artery and are now circling around a president who probably doesn't even realize the danger he is in...

Full slidedeck at the link:


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/why-was-c ... o-solyndra

Fast & Furious = The Obama Water Gate Trial Number 1

Solyndra Solar Panel Loan = The Obama Water Gate Trial Number 2

this list will grow

I wonder where all of the documents the FBI took and if they will ever see the light of day.

I wonder where all of the documents the FBI took and if they will ever see the light of day.
IMHO......The FBI is controlled by "O"........It will ALL be lost or misplaced...but that is just my humble opinion

Solyndra Executives to Plead Fifth at Congressional Hearing

Published September 20, 2011
| FoxNews.com






Executives with the bankrupt solar energy firm at the heart of a widening federal controversy plan to plead the Fifth when they head to Capitol Hill for a hearing Friday.

A statement Tuesday from California-based Solyndra said CEO Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer Bill Stover have informed members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that they will not be able to provide "substantive answers" to lawmakers' questions due to the ongoing Justice Department probe.

"Present circumstances require both gentlemen to exercise their Fifth Amendment rights in the face of questioning that might occur," the company said.

Republican committee leaders blasted Solyndra executives for "breaking an agreement to voluntarily testify."

"Who exactly are Solyndra's executive trying to protect and what are they trying to hide?" said Reps. Fred Upton, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Cliff Stearns, chairman of the Investigations Subcommittee.

The company's statement said both executives were following the advice of counsel, but it also continued to defend the firm's actions. The company came under scrutiny after filing for bankruptcy despite receiving nearly $530 million in federal taxpayer-backed loans.

"The company is not aware of any wrongdoing by Solyndra officers, directors or employees in conjunction with the DOE (Department of Energy) loan guarantee or otherwise," the statement said, claiming the investigation will "clarify the facts surrounding the events leading to the DOE loan guarantee to Solyndra and looks forward to a time when its executives can more freely discuss their views on these events."

Stover attorney Jan Nielsen Little also wrote in a letter to committee members that, "on my advice," Stover would show up at the hearing but not offer testimony. "Nothing of substance should be read into Mr. Stover's decision to heed his counsel's advice," Little wrote.

The GOP committee leaders weren't convinced.

"It's disappointing that the officials who canvassed the halls of Congress in mid-July and misled our members about the financial state of their company are now unwilling to answer direct questions, but any effort to cover up the truth will ultimately not succeed," they said.


A committee aide told Fox Business that staff last received email assurances from Solyndra counsel on Sept. 10 that executives would not take the Fifth Amendment and would testify voluntarily.

The aide said the committee was first informed this afternoon of the apparent change of heart, 10 days later.

Meanwhile, pressure is only growing on Solyndra and the administration officials involved in the loan to provide more information.

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday that his panel will probe government loan programs that benefit private companies in light of the scandal.

Rep. Darrell Issa's commitment to an investigation comes on top of the call by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, for a special prosecutor in the Solyndra case. Smith wants to know whether politics played a role in the decision to grant the loan and why the administration agreed to restructure it earlier this year.
Issa said his committee will take a "broad" approach.

"We're looking at the system," Issa said Tuesday in an interview on C-SPAN. He suggested the system of government-backed projects could be "unfixable."

He suggested the panel might also look at whether White House officials coordinated with the company LightSquared to establish a new wireless broadband network. That program has come under scrutiny following the allegation that a general was pressured to changed his testimony on the project.

"There's been this attitude that somehow government can weigh in with loan guarantees and money and pick ... winners and losers," Issa said. He called that approach "dangerous."

Several other entities already are investigating Solyndra. The FBI raided the company's California headquarters earlier this month. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the inspectors general for the Treasury and Energy departments, are conducting their own probes. Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans on Tuesday wrote to

Energy Secretary Steven Chu expressing concern about another round of loan guarantees worth nearly $9 billion that's supposed to be finalized by the end of the month.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Smith asked that the Justice Department take the additional step of appointing an independent prosecutor to look into the administration's dealings with the company.
He wrote that events preceding the bankruptcy "have raised suspicion about the extent to which the Obama Administration may have singled out Solyndra for special treatment" because of Obama's ties to one of the company's top investors.

Specifically, Smith wants the prosecutor to determine if the deal was rushed through, if the Energy Department placed appropriate protections on taxpayer dollars in the deal and if the administration did not pay attention to "clear signs that Solyndra's ability to repay its loan was in serious jeopardy."

Administration officials have denied politics and relationships played any role. The White House has said the deal was not rushed through, and that it was approved by the Energy Department and White House budget office on its merits.

Administration officials have said the government must continue to invest in clean-energy projects.

Other details emerging from the Solyndra case are starting to raise questions. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, took to the Senate floor Tuesday to decry reports that laid-off Solyndra workers have applied for what's known as trade adjustment assistance. The taxpayer-backed benefits are supposed to help workers who lost their jobs presumably because production was shifted overseas.

"For each initial wasted taxpayer dollar, the government multiplies the losses and manages to waste another quarter," Hatch said.

And The Washington Times reported that the bankruptcy case will involve some pricey bill-able attorney hours which could further sap the amount of money available to pay back creditors. According to the article, Solyndra is looking to pay former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld $825 an hour for help on the case, as well as other lawyers and consultants.

In the LightSquared case, the billionaire backer of the company has rejected claims that he used White House connections to interfere with a Pentagon commander's testimony on Capitol Hill last week. He told Fox News it was "absolutely false" to claim he obtained written testimony in advance.

Air Force Gen. William Shelton had told a House subcommittee that the network could interfere with critical GPS systems used by the military. But Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, later told Fox News that Shelton confided that he thought the testimony had been leaked, and that he rebuffed requests to soften it.

The Daily Beast has since reported that another U.S. official confirms the White House tried to influence testimony to benefit LightSquared. Anthony Russo with the National Coordination Office, described the encounter as "guidance" rather than pressure.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09 ... z1YZ56L7BP

Obama Goes on the Defensive: Launches Investigation of Fox News



As the Obama administration has become ensnared in a Solyndragate investigation, Congressman Darrell Issa has launched another investigation for LightSquared in what looks like an expanding cash for political contributions scandal.

Issa, Republicans investigate LightSquared donations

Citing concerns over alleged White House influence in dispersing loans, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa announced that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee would begin an investigation into the wireless startup LightSquared.

On C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Tuesday morning, Issa, who chairs the Oversight Committee, named LightSquared along with the embattled solar energy company Solyndra as examples of “crony capitalism.â€