Investigators Probe White House Role in Massive Energy Loan

ABC News ^ | 2 Sep 2011 | MATTHEW MOSK and RONNIE GREENE

[mandaladon]

House investigators said they have uncovered evidence that White House officials became personally involved in an Energy Department review of a hot-button $535 million loan guarantee to the now-failed California solar company Solyndra.

The allegation surfaced in a letter House Energy Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) sent to the White House Thursday night, saying he planned to accelerate efforts to understand an investment deal that may have left taxpayers out half a billion dollars.

"We have learned from our investigation that White House officials monitored Solyndra's application and communicated with [Department of Energy] and Office of Management and Budget officials during the course of their review," the letter says.

Thursday's letter, which calls on the White House to turn over correspondence between administration officials, Solyndra and its investors, presents the most pointed suggestion that the White House had direct involvement in the financing.

"How did this company, without maybe the best economic plan, all of a sudden get to the head of the line?" Upton told ABC News in an interview this week. "We want to know who made this decision ... and we're not going to stop until we get those answers."

READ: Solyndra Collapse a 'Waste' of Half a Billion By Obama, GOP Critics Say

White House officials have said in interviews that they did not intervene in the Solyndra deal or others benefiting companies backed by supporters of the president. Yet the administration, from Obama to the Department of Energy, has very publicly praised the loan guarantee.

[mandaladon]

"Here's the bottom line," Lynch said. "It costs them $6 to make a unit. They're selling it for $3. In order to be competitive today, they have to sell it for between $1.5 and $2. That is not a viable business plan." *******************How stupid can the Obama experts be????

[ken5050]

It’s the old Amazon business plan..Lose $$ on every sale..make it up on volume..

[ken21]

chicago thugs in action.

[Newton]

*******************How stupid can the Obama experts be????

I haven't decided who is dumber - obozo and his "experts" or the morons that voted for him in the first place.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

I’m still waiting to find out who hired Greg Livingstone.

[Michael.SF.]

The allegation surfaced in a letter House Energy Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) sent to the White House Thursday night

The WH has been dodging this one for several months:

OMB Role in loans

[Obadiah]

Okay, so now we have this from ABC "News" and the gun runner story in the LA Times today.

Let me guess. This is FRIDAY before Labor Day and we are witnessing a big document/story dump, right?

This way the corrupt MSM can claim they "reported" all this information and the administration can dump all the bad news too. What's next?

[Linda Frances]

Why is ABC investigating the White House? They cover for the democrats & don’t investigate. I don’t trust these people. As usual this will come out that no one did anything illegal, just stupid. I think they are trying to divert our attention away from something that is really big.

[ken5050]

Rememebr the guy in the Clinton administration..Josh something or other,,who testified under oath that he LIED TO HIS DIARY...

[Linda Frances]

On second thought, I think they know Obama will lose the election & is going to “tell all” so he won't run or will have a primary challenger (Hillary).

[Shannon]

*How stupid can the Obama experts be????

Very stupid! This what happens when you have a pres and people surrounding him with NO business experience.

Make a part for $6 and sell it for $3??? Geez, a worker in a 7-11 would have known this company was going to fail. Yet people in the administration couldn't figure this out.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Solyndra "was ... a company whose key investor was George Kaiser, an Oklahoma billionaire who raised more than $50,000 for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Since May, Kaiser has declined interview requests."

ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/solyndra-investigation-probe-white-house-role-massive-energy/story?id=14434588

[MrB]

The morons who elected him are the biggest danger to the country,

but...

It’s not all that “dumb” to push a federally backed loan that ends up laundering money back into ‘rat campaign coffers.

It’s crooked and, well, “liberal” to do so, but not “dumb”.

[org.whodat]

How much was the executives pay and bonuses. Nothing more than high tech stealing of tax payers money.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

lol. Joshua Steiner

[org.whodat]

Wonder where in the TSA old greg works today.

[Common Sense 101]

“It costs them $6 to make a unit. They’re selling it for $3.

Given the skid mark’s knowledge of basic economics, he was convinced that they would make up the difference in volume...

[6ppc]

Follow the money. The rats got back about 1% in campaign donations.

[mad_as_he$$]

One of the owners (George Kaiser) of the company is an Oklahoma guy worth billions that bundled $50k for 0 in the last election. Coincidence? I think not.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45904&keywords=Solyndra

[jimpick]

Wow you are kidding the Dems pushed a bad project that was owned by a campaign donor. First time that’s ever happened and ABC caught it right away.