Issa to launch probe of Obama actions on Solyndra, LightSquared

[Nu Kua]

The Hill:

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House and failed energy company Solyndra and wireless start-up LightSquared.

"I want to see when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers… it wasn't because there were large contributions given to them," the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday morning on C-SPAN...

Now it's guaranteed this won't go away soon, and actually I wonder if this is part of 'the revealing' influence I was speaking of months ago, expected this month around Equinox, as per WH/presidential affairs. It appears BM Lilith strikes again.

...Issa said the committee was looking at whether it was improper for members of Congress or White House staff to select companies eligible for subsidized government loans when those companies could give campaign donations. ...

It doesn't seem like the usual Lilith material, though. So either something else is brewing to be opened up or there is another aspect to what I was seeing that needs to be considered.

Solyndra pleads the 5th

Solyndra LLC's chief executive and chief financial officer will invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and decline to answer any questions put to them at a Congressional hearing on Friday, according to letters from their attorneys obtained by Reuters.

In the letters sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, attorneys for Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and CFO W. G. Stover said they advised their clients not to provide testimony during the hearings...

Interesting story of a similar theme in the NY Times from 2007, and also in USA Today.

[Reef Badlaw]

The CEO's pleading the 5th will force Department Of Energy officials to invoke executive privilege... guaranteeing this story will remain in the headlines for months. There's no way out for the Administration.

[LoudAmerican]

as it should be .... make people aware that we are getting scammed out of taxes AGAIN (still)!

[Nu Kua]

The CEO's pleading the 5th will force Department Of Energy officials to invoke executive privilege... guaranteeing this story will remain in the headlines for months. There's no way out for the Administration.

I wonder if there is actually an honest-to-goodness smoking gun here, or if this is a very clever strategy on the behalf of the Republicans, to keep the question up in the air enough so that even if they don't find clear evidence of illegality, it will put doubt in the minds of (especially) the 'swing" voters.

[LoudAmerican]

I wonder if there is actually an honest-to-goodness smoking gun here, or if this is a very clever strategy on the behalf of the Republicans, to keep the question up in the air enough so that even if they don't find clear evidence of illegality, it will put doubt in the minds of (especially) the 'swing" voters.

that much loss is a republican strategy?

[Reef Badlaw]

I wonder if there is actually an honest-to-goodness smoking gun here, or if this is a very clever strategy on the behalf of the Republicans, to keep the question up in the air enough so that even if they don't find clear evidence of illegality, it will put doubt in the minds of (especially) the 'swing" voters.

I don't think it's a Republican strategy, because Issa's committee was already paperwork-smothered by their pursuit of the Fast & Furious gun-sales scandal when the Solyndra-thing broke.

Oh, they'll keep it in the news... The scandal itself is most-likely a sequence of amatuerish blunders by zealots who mistook Obama's election as a 1,000-year mandate for a Democrat-ruled 'dynasty'.

[Nu Kua]

Okay, y'all make sense. Maybe better to say then, the Republicans will definitely be smart enough to make sure this stays in the conversation, considering 2012 is just around the corner. It's what I might do, if I were fighting for control of the WH.

...a sequence of amatuerish blunders by zealots who mistook Obama's election as a 1,000-year mandate for a Democrat-ruled 'dynasty'.

Well then there are bound to keep popping up, like whack-a-moles.

[Nu Kua]

Energy Commerce.gov:

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) today blasted Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and CFO W.G. Stover for reneging on their written assurances that they would not take the Fifth Amendment while testifying before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee this Friday. Today’s news breaks an agreement that Solyndra’s lawyers had made with committee investigators that Mr. Harrison and Mr. Stover would voluntarily testify and answer the Committee’s questions about the half a billion dollar loss of taxpayer money.

They should of got that in writing. :)

The open letter:

“Who exactly are Solyndra’s executives trying to protect and what are they trying to hide?

Despite repeated assurances that they would testify voluntarily and answer questions this Friday, today we received the news that these executives – who had plenty to say to federal officials when securing half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding for their venture – plan to invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and will not answer questions from Congress.

“Our investigation has gotten this far without much cooperation from Solyndra, and it will continue with or without their voluntary testimony. 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. We will not allow stonewalling by DOE, OMB, Committee Democrats, Solyndra, or anyone else to stop this investigation into what happened to half a billion dollars of the taxpayers’ money.

“Both Mr. Stover and Mr. Harrison will be sworn in under oath this Friday. We have many questions for Solyndra’s executives on their dealings with the Obama administration, their efforts to secure federal support for a project that appeared doomed from the outset, and why they made certain representations to Congress regarding their dire financial situation just two months ago. We would encourage Mr. Harrison and Mr. Stover to reconsider this effort to dodge questions under oath and hide the truth from those American taxpayers who are now on the hook for their $500 million bust.”

The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on “From DOE Loan Guarantee to Bankruptcy to FBI Raid: What Solyndra's Executives Knew” this Friday, September 23, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building.