Paulson: No Evidence of Illegality at BofA/Merrill Deal

Fox Business News ^ | 7/16/09 | Dunstan Prial

[Kartographer]

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday denied he and other government officials did anything improper or illegal when they put pressure on Bank of America (BAC: 13.2201, -0.2099, -1.56%) to complete a rushed merger with Merrill Lynch late last year.

While admitting that pressure was applied, Paulson said every action taken at the time was made to fend off a potentially catastrophic collapse of the global financial system.

[Kartographer]

[anniegetyourgun]

No, of course not. And, he doesn’t have his hand in our pocket either.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Depends on what the meaning of IS is.

[dblshot]

Remember “the seriousness of the charges demands we investigate” excuse?

[cranked]

“No evidence” claims does not mean there is ‘no evidence’, Paulson. It just means none that has been produced or been allowed to be produced, you know, the type evidence typically kept politically hidden from public and legal scrutiny.

[stephenjohnbanker]

LOL. Like it was yesterday.

[Marty62]

And the Administration lies continue.

[VicVega]

Another good one.

[contemplator]

“Was Bank of America really forced to go through with the deal, or was this just an old fashioned shakedown?” Towns asked.

Probably a good bit of both. The real question should be the one of the chicken/egg nature, namely which came first? I'm guessing that the $20 billion payout to cover the Merrill's debts didn't enter the equation until after Paulson had applied significant pressure.

[contemplator]

That “No evidence” in the headline is a slightly misleading. Looking through the article I couldn’t find anywhere in it where Paulson had been quoted as saying that.

[KarlInOhio]

No Evidence of Illegality at BofA/Merrill Deal

"I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it, you can't prove anything."

We're into the third phase of the Bart Simpson defense with the denial of evidence. He has moved from his initial denial of unethical pressure on Bank of America.

[Cicero]

“No evidence” means that he has been working the shredder.

It was one of Clinton’s favorite denials. First he’d commit a crime, then he’d order all the evidence shredded and wiped from the hard drives, and then he’d say: “There is no evidence.”

Paulson is clearly borrowing this clintonism.

[cranked]

Agreed.

My original point was that “no evidence” claims are flawed, especially when we are talking government involvement in something of the scale as the engineered take over of banks, etc. and the hijacking of the American economy.

[SJSAMPLE]

Was anybody else immediately reminded of Al Gore’s “no controlling legal authority” argument during the Buddhist Temple fundraising scheme?

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