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 Geithner Time Loop Theory - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 3/20/09 — Saturday, March 21, 2009 —  Q On Geithner, is the administration sticking to -- are you sticking to this March 10th date for when he found out about this? Because I -- he was asked about it in Congress a week before - Q It was March 9th. Q March 9th. He was asked a week before, specifically. MR. GIBBS: And I think the Treasury Department addressed that in the newspaper this morning. Look, I think there's -- there has been -- obviously, the Treasury has talked about taking responsibility for knowing more about the timeline. Q When Secretary Geithner talked about that yesterday, he really parsed words. He said, on Tuesday, March 10th, I was informed about the full scale and scope of these specific bonuses. He's not saying that was the first time he learned about it -- MR. GIBBS: Well -- Q A very careful parsing of words here, suggesting he did know about it before then. MR. GIBBS: No, I -- I think if you read carefully the report you're discussing, the Treasury Secretary takes responsibility, as the President does -- Q But he's sticking by that October 10th date -- excuse me, March 10th date -- MR. GIBBS: Right, I -- Q -- even though he clearly knew about it before then. He was asked about it in Congress -- MR. GIBBS: But, again -- but again, Chip -- Q -- and he was overseeing the AIG bailout. I mean, is it -- MR. GIBBS: What committee -- Q It just doesn't seem credible. MR. GIBBS: That was Ways and Means? Q Yes. But he was specifically asked the question. MR. GIBBS: No, I understand. I understand. And I think he's addressed that and I think that's addressed in both the reports today and what he said yesterday. Chip, we're -- we understand and the President shares the outrage and the frustration that everybody has. The administration is taking steps to recoup money that's gone out, as well as to put in place a financial stability plan and to seek progress on getting our economy moving again. Q Let me just ask you specifically. When he says, on March 10th he was informed about the full scale and scope, is he saying that's the first he learned about it at all? MR. GIBBS: Chip, the question is predicated on the report in the paper and I think the report in the paper answers your question. Q So he did know about it before then? 20:54 MR. GIBBS: Chip, I will -- can somebody go get a dollar and buy Chip a newspaper so that he can read the report? Again, I think it's pretty clear -- Q Been read. MR. GIBBS: Excellent. Then I believe it's been answered. Q Robert, can I follow on that real quick? Why did you tell us that it was March 10th, then, that you found out? The statement from the White House was very specific, he found out March 10th. MR. GIBBS: Again, I would point you to the report that the Secretary of the Treasury takes responsibility, as does the administration, with knowledge about the structure and the scope of those bonuses. Q But we were accidentally or however misinformed about the day that he found out. MR. GIBBS: Well, let's -- let's not -- I'm just going to leave it at that. I think the report is pretty clear and so are the answers. Chuck. Q Did he misinform the White House about when he found out? MR. GIBBS: Chuck. Video (note the difference between the uhhh-redacted transcript and the video of uhhhs): AIG | Obama Administration | Open Government | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | TARP | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner | White House Press Corps Labels: AIG, Obama Administration, Open Government, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, TARP, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 3:32:00 PM  Taking Responsibility - Air Force One Press Gaggle by Bill Burton 03/18/09 — Friday, March 20, 2009 —  Q So why did it take two days for the Treasury Secretary to tell the White House and, subsequently the President, to be informed about the -- what were then the impending bonuses?MR. BURTON: Well, I'm going to refer you to what the President had to say before Marine One took off from the White House. But he, of course, is taking responsibility for what we do here, and what he's making sure is that we get the tools that we need to make sure that this does not happen again. As for, you know, timelines and different things like that, we've been through this for the past couple of days, and Gibbs and others and folks at the Treasury have answered these questions. And for any more specifics on that, I'd refer you to some of the information that they shared with folks yesterday. Q Well, I mean, up until now, Robert -- until the timeline was released last night, we didn't exactly know what the sequence was. So, I mean, is there any concern that it took two days for the Treasury Secretary to tell the White House about it? MR. BURTON: As the President said, he's very confident in how Secretary Geithner is doing. And, you know, one of the things that we're going to talk about today in California -- because I imagine people are going to have questions about AIG, these bonuses, things that are happening in the economy. The President, as he has said, shares the profound anger of the American people about these bonuses, about the folks who are getting them. And we're doing everything we can to make sure that this doesn't happen again and to make sure that taxpayers are made whole on the money that's been paid out. Q Do you anticipate any change in the internal communication system, though, so that it will flow more smoothly, more quickly? MR. BURTON: As I said, the President feels good about how Secretary Geithner is doing, and we're looking forward at what we can do to make sure that we don't see these sort of egregious problems ever again. Q The bonuses that have already been paid at AIG, there's really nothing that can be done about that, at least from the executive branch -- is that the thinking? MR. BURTON: Well, the good news is some progress has actually been made on this, in the sense that -- and Liddy talked about this in his testimony today -- some folks at AIG have already paid back their bonuses. Other people are being encouraged to do the exact same thing. So some progress is getting made on that. Secretary Geithner outlined how taxpayers would be made whole in his letter to Congress last night, and I can get that to you if you don't, by chance, have it. And, you know, so we're going to be working with AIG to see what we can do here to make sure that taxpayers are getting exactly what they deserve from the investments that we're making in order to stabilize that company. AIG | Air Force One | Bill Burton | Legislation | President Obama | Press Gaggle | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner | White House Press Corps Labels: AIG, Air Force One, Bill Burton, Legislation, President Obama, Press Gaggle, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 2:17:00 PM Making a Hash of the Details - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 3/17/09 — Tuesday, March 17, 2009 —  MR. GIBBS: Jonathan.Q Last night, administration officials said that after carefully reviewing the situation they concluded that under current law these contracts could not be broken without actually costing the taxpayers more money in legal fees than would have been recouped. A few hours -- MR. GIBBS: To break the -- Q To break the contracts. That under current law, to break those contracts would actually cost the taxpayers more money than to let the money go out. About four hours before that, the President of the United States walked before the cameras and said that to block -- he promised to pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole. Did the President, when he went before the camera, did he know at that time that the legal review had already concluded that actually to block those bonuses would be pretty much legally unfeasible? MR. GIBBS: Yes, and he asked us to look again. That's what he announced at the remarks in which you point -- happened four hours earlier, and that's why the review of provisions in existing law, including the Dodd compensation requirements as contained in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, are one of the avenues with which the administration continues to look. Again, let's point out that that's a piece of legislation that Congress has passed but rules have yet to be promulgated on, which provides an interesting case because the legislation contains provisions dealing with TARP money and preexisting contracts. Q So when the administration officials came back four hours later and said, you know what, we can't really break these contracts, did that mean that the second review that the President was asking for was over and that -- MR. GIBBS: No, I just -- I'm not announcing the end of the review. I'm bringing you up to date on the existing review that takes place, including the provisions that I just read out. Q And, I'm sorry, one more, then. And when Larry Summers went on television on Sunday morning and said, laws are laws, contracts are contracts; we have to respect them -- MR. GIBBS: Again, you're -- now you're asking me about something that happened Sunday. I've now brought you up to speed on what probably happened at around 4:00 p.m. on Monday. So I think you can assume that what I've said about 4:00 p.m. on Monday brings you most up to date on a timeline that you're asking me about sometime on Sunday morning. Q But how much consultation with the economic team and the political team had been done before Mr. Summers, Dr. Summers's appearance on the Sunday shows? MR. GIBBS: Well, again, the legal deadline for the bonuses had passed. There was a review and there's an existing review, as the President ordered yesterday. Yes, sir. Q Robert, we understand from your answers here that you don't have knowledge of the exact timeline, but would it be accurate to say that you were blind-sided, that the President was blind-sided by this? MR. GIBBS: No. And I will certainly seek better timeline answers to enumerate the negative answer I just gave you. Q Why wouldn't it be accurate to say that? MR. GIBBS: Because the Secretary obviously took steps last week to lessen the blow of what was both contractually obligated and what had been promised but was not part of a contract that lessened the amount of money that was paid out. Again, the Secretary of Treasury did good work in changing what was potentially out there, and I think obviously he did so in order to protect the American taxpayers. And that's why I think -- that's the basis for me answering that question. AIG | Economy | Legislation | President Obama | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | TARP | Treasury Department | White House Press Corps . Labels: AIG, Economy, Legislation, President Obama, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, TARP, Treasury Department, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 7:43:00 PM A Day at the Spa with AIG - White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 10/8/08 — Wednesday, October 08, 2008 —  Q Is the President following any of the financial hearings that are going on, on the Hill, specifically at AIG executives? When the White House hears about these executives taking a spa vacation, spending thousands of dollars on massages and treatments -- I mean, do they think that there should be any kind of action taken against these executives, considering how much taxpayer money was put into that company to rescue it? MS. PERINO: I don't know how much he's been able to actually watch those. As you know, yesterday we were traveling out to Chantilly, Virginia. But certainly we've seen coverage of it. And I understand why the American people would be outraged -- I am. It's pretty despicable to realize how callous somebody might be as they go through this -- as some might be reacting to this crisis. And the President did not want to move forward on this rescue package to help anybody in the top positions in Wall Street. He was concerned about everybody -- everyday people like you and me in America and people all across this country who have worked so hard to put money into their retirement accounts, to pay their mortgages on time, who have been responsible in the loans that they've taken out. Not everybody has, and there were risky lenders -- lenders who gave people loans that they knew they weren't going to be able to pay, and borrowers who took out loans that they probably knew they didn't have the income in order to pay but thought maybe that eventually that they would. Now, Americans are not the type of people who fault success. When people succeed we like that, we think that that's good, and we aspire to be successful ourselves. But rewarding failure is something that we have a very hard time swallowing. And President Bush has said that his first instinct was absolutely not to go down this road. What he wanted was to make sure that we were asking all the right questions to prevent this financial market collapse and that we take the actions necessary on Capitol Hill, or anywhere else -- at the Fed, or the SEC, wherever we could independently -- to help save the system. But he didn't do that to help top executives and certainly not to help executives go to a spa. President Bush did that in order to try to help everybody save their accounts. Q Should some of that money be taken back from those individuals? Is there a way to do that? MS. PERINO: I don't know how it was all paid for or anything. I just know that I can understand that people would question the judgment of executives who would take that kind of action. AIG | Congressional Hearings | Dana Perino | Economy | President Bush | Press Briefing | Wall Street | White House Press Corps Labels: AIG, Congressional Hearings, Dana Perino, Economy, President Bush, Press Briefing, Wall Street, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 5:10:00 PM
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