Obama Administration Expresses Full Confidence in Rattner Amid Pension Probe
EmailABC News’ Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report:
The Obama administration has expressed confidence in the head of the President’s Auto Task Force, Steven Rattner, amid a report investigating his role in a New York pension kickback scheme.
As reported by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal this morning, Quadrangle Group LLC, a private equity firm which Mr. Rattner is co-founder of, is one of several companies under investigation by NY Attorney General Cuomo and the Securities and Exchange Commission for doing business with the state’s employee pension fund.
While not mentioned by name in the SEC documents, Rattner has been singled out for arranging for his investment firm to pay more than $1 million to obtain New York State pension business, per The New York Times.
Aboard Air Force One today traveling to Trinidad and Tobago, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the President does have confidence in Mr. Rattner. Gibbs added that this is not news to the administration, they were informed of the investigation during the transition period.
“He’s not accused of doing any wrongdoing and is not likely to face either criminal or civil charges as it relates to this, and a pending investigation was something that he brought up to us,” Gibbs said, also disputing the notion that this hangs a cloud over Rattner’s head.
Rattner was chosen as Obama’s top auto adviser in late February.
-Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller
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Obama appears to have a problem judging character (Wright, Ayers,Pfleger, Rezko, Geithner, Daschle).
But if your standards are so low that tax cheats are OK then I guess I understand.
Posted by: nick | April 17, 2009, 6:11 pm 6:11 pm
And the wheels of the bus go round and round, round and round. Hehe!
Posted by: Manu | April 17, 2009, 6:17 pm 6:17 pm
Boy, the spin on this should be good!
Counting 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 …
Posted by: ceeLeelee | April 17, 2009, 6:23 pm 6:23 pm
Who cares.
Posted by: Susan | April 17, 2009, 7:07 pm 7:07 pm
“He’s not accused of doing any wrongdoing and is not likely to face either criminal or civil charges as it relates to this, and a pending investigation was something that he brought up to us,” Gibbs said, also disputing the notion that this hangs a cloud over Rattner’s head.
Enough said, Obama-haters.
Posted by: Larry | April 17, 2009, 7:30 pm 7:30 pm
Yes Obama hasn’t exactly set the bar real high with his associates or his administration.
A pastor that curses America, preaching hateful sermons and Obama will stay in his church for 20 years.
Try to bomb the pentagon without remorse, stomp the flag and Obama will serve on a board with him.
Crooked realtor–Obama will buy a house from him.
A tax cheat not smart enough to use Turbo Tax–Obama puts him in charge of the IRS.
So Obama supporting this guy?
No big surprise.
Posted by: ross | April 17, 2009, 7:41 pm 7:41 pm
Call me when you have something to prosecute him on.
Posted by: Thinking | April 17, 2009, 8:21 pm 8:21 pm
A Securities and Exchange Commission complaint says a “senior executive” of Mr. Rattner’s investment firm met with a politically connected consultant about a finder’s fee. Later, the complaint says, the firm received an investment from the state pension fund, then paid a $1.1 million fee.
A spokeswoman for the Treasury, which is in charge of the auto task force, said that “during the transition, Mr. Rattner made us aware of the pending investigation.”
Doesn’t this sound a little familiar? Tim Geithner at Treasury blew off paying tens of thousands of dollars in taxes over several years, even though he had received reimbursement to pay them. The Obama administration insisted on appointing him to Treasury Secretary anyway, despite the fact that Geithner would run tax collection, declaring him the only person in America who could do the job. Bill Richardson got appointed to Commerce Secretary despite a publicly-known pay-to-play investigation involving the Governor, which eventually forced Richardson into a humiliating withdrawal. A series of high-level nominees with tax and ethics problems followed, including Cabinet appointees Hilda Solis, Tom Daschle, and Kathleen Sebelius.
And once again, we not only have an appointment with legal and ethical problems, we have another one that the Obama administration appointed knowing about them. In this case, one can hardly claim that Rattner was “uniquely qualified” to run the auto industry; he has no experience in the auto industry at all.
Barack Obama ran on the promise to change the way Washington does business, but clearly he must have meant for the worse. He’s already surpassed the number of ethically tarnished appointments for Bush and Clinton combined, and he hasn’t yet hit 90 days in office. Did Hope and Change mean Kickback Artists and Tax Cheats?
Posted by: Crook County, Illinois | April 17, 2009, 9:15 pm 9:15 pm
Just add this to the growing list of criminals Obama hires. The message he is sending our kids will be the ultimate destruction of the U.S. His lack of character is unbelievable. I bet Obama and Chavez will make great friends.
Posted by: GregR | April 17, 2009, 9:35 pm 9:35 pm