Obama Response on Solyndra 'Disgusting'
Taxpayers are unlikely ever to see any of the $535 million lost when solar panel firm Solyndra went bust amid accusations of fraud, Rep. Cory Gardner, a member of the House Energy Committee tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.
And Jonathan Silver, who quit on Thursday as head of the agency which approved the loan, is likely to be only the first of many heads to roll as House Republicans widen their investigation into the scandal, he added.
“Right now it’s not looking good,” said the Colorado Congressman when asked if there was any chance of the money getting returned to the public coffers. “What’s so disgusting about this is to hear the president say, ‘we didn’t have a crystal ball.’ Yet his administration had warning flags all over the place about the fact the taxpayers could very well lose half a billion dollars. That’s exactly what happened.”
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Emails Expose Fresh West Wing Cronyism
An Obama administration appointee at the Energy Department pressed White House analysts to sign off on a $535 million loan to Solyndra even though his wife worked for the failed solar panel maker's law firm.The revelation, contained in a new batch of internal emails released Friday, adds new drama to a heated political battle over government backing for Solyndra, which has filed for bankruptcy and has been raided by the FBI.
The emails show frequent inquiries from Steven Spinner, who was an adviser to the Energy Department on its use of economic stimulus funding to spur clean energy technology, on the Solyndra loan, according to a report in the New York Times.
On Sept 29, the Energy Department had posted a "fact check" on Spinner's involvement in the Solyndra case on its website, explaining that he started his job after the company received conditional approval for its loan application.
The department said Spinner "was recused from engaging in any discussions on decisions affecting specific loan applications in which his spouse's law firm was involved out of concern for the appearance of a conflict of interest."
Allison Spinner is a partner at law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, which represented Solyndra.
Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera said on Friday that the department's ethics officer had cleared Spinner to "oversee and monitor the progress of applications," although he was not allowed to make decisions on loans or their terms.
LaVera noted that Allison Spinner had "agreed not to participate in or receive any financial compensation from her law firm's work on behalf of any loan program applicant."
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