GOP Reps Object to WH Executive Privilege to Withhold Solyndra Documents
EmailTwo Republican congressional leaders — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla. – criticized the White House today for turning down an Oct. 5 request for “(a)ll communications among White House staff and officials relating to the $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra by the Department of Energy between Jan. 20,2009, and the present.”
“What is the White House trying to hide?” Upton and Stearns asked in a joint statement. “Since day one of the Solyndra investigation, the Obama administration has fought us tooth and nail, even forcing us to subpoena documents from [Office of Management and Budget]. Along the way, they have repeatedly claimed there’s nothing to see and no wrongdoing to uncover, but the facts have proven we are on the right trail. For an administration that campaigned and governs under the banner of transparency, such an overt refusal to share emails directly relevant to an ongoing investigation is deeply troubling.”
On Friday, White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler denied the committee’s request, writing in a letter, “Your most recent request for internal White House communications from the first day of the current Administration to the present implicates longstanding and significant institutional Executive Branch confidentiality interests. Encroaching upon these important interests is not necessary, however, because the agency documents the Committee has requested, which include communications with the White House, should satisfy the Committee’s stated objective — to ‘understand the involvement of the White House in the review of the Solynrda loan guarantee and the Administration’s support of this guarantee.”
Ruemmler also noted that that Department of Energy, Office of Management and Budget, and the Treasury Department “have to date produced over 70,000 pages of documents, participated in nine briefings for committee staff and provided testimony at several Committee hearings relating to this matter.” The White House has handed over 900 pages of related documents.
Stearns said earlier in the month that anything relevant – including messages on President Obama’s BlackBerry – should be turned over to his committee.
“So if there’s nothing on his BlackBerry, that’s fine,” Stearns said. “But if there’s something on his BlackBerry, I would assume that would include that.”
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So much for that transparency Obama promised us.
Posted by: Joy | October 17, 2011, 8:33 pm 8:33 pm
SOLYNDRA-GATE!…. FAST&FURIOUS-GATE…. SESTAK-GATE…. Too bad for Obama and the Dems in 14 months!!
Posted by: TheLoyalOpposition | October 17, 2011, 8:45 pm 8:45 pm
Why aren’t these OWS people marching in front of the White House? Crony capitalism seems to start there! Solyndra was just one example of crony capitalism this administration has corrupted it self with, what happened to the transparent government Obama promised??? Solyndra was just the tip of the iceberg for White House crony capitalism!!!
Posted by: RadioMan77 | October 17, 2011, 8:51 pm 8:51 pm
Executive Privilege!?!?!?! Who does he think he is… Nixon???
Posted by: Denbo | October 17, 2011, 8:57 pm 8:57 pm
Solyndra was just the tip of the iceberg for White House crony capitalism!!!
POSTED BY: RADIOMAN77 | OCTOBER 17, 2011, 8:51 PM 8:51 PM
You don’t have any proof Obama was anywhere involved in the Solyndra dead, so I strongly doubt you’ve got proof of any other ‘crony capitalism’ from the President.
Posted by: Jenny | October 17, 2011, 9:01 pm 9:01 pm
Nothing to see here unless you are a republican politician or a devoted Fox watcher with all the hate and propaganda against President Obama. This country gave a lot of funds to a lot of companies. Unfortunately solar power is expensive to get off the ground and it is expensive for anyone who wants to undertake solar energy for themselves. It is wonderful though if you can afford it. I have read wonderful articles about how happy people are with the solar panels and how much less they pay for electricity. If this could come down in price it would be a wonderful way for more people to go.
Posted by: Vicki | October 17, 2011, 9:04 pm 9:04 pm
Isn’t Obama in the White House? So he is covering up for no reason then?
Posted by: Toby | October 17, 2011, 9:05 pm 9:05 pm
“You don’t have any proof Obama was anywhere involved in the Solyndra dead, so I strongly doubt you’ve got proof of any other ‘crony capitalism’ from the President.”
Posted by: Jenny | October 17, 2011, 9:01 pm 9:01 pm
Well Jenny why is Obama doing his best to BLOCK the Solyndra investigation??? Looks to any reasonable person that he is trying to hide the truth!!! What happened to the transparent government Obama promised? If Bush had done this deal the left wing liberals would be demanding his head!!! Bush did not okay this deal because it was projected to fail and it did!!!!!
Posted by: RadioMan77 | October 17, 2011, 9:12 pm 9:12 pm
One of the reasons I voted for Obama because of the promise of Transparency…. IF he has nothing to hide, then put the crap out there and shut the Repubs up. He flip-flopped on the patriot act, guantanamo bay, the Bush tax cuts.. Did I miss the day he gave the definition of the “Change” thing he was running on??
Posted by: anotherday | October 17, 2011, 9:34 pm 9:34 pm
More whining over what your own team does. President Bush invoked it when he refused to give Congress memos written by White House counsel Harriet Myers, which helped scuttle her nomination to the US Supreme Court. Executive privilege was also an issue in the administration’s resistance to sharing notes from the Vice President’s Energy Task Force meetings and in their resistance to share what they knew about Hurricane Katrina’s destructive potential and when.
Posted by: Secondlook | October 17, 2011, 9:37 pm 9:37 pm
President Obama has been FAR more transparent than Bush Co. I would not offer a thing if I were him either. It’s like the Salem Witch Trials up there with republicans. I guess Obama blew it by not going after them when he first got in if they can’t play fair anymore. They did it to Clinton, they’re doing it again.
Posted by: Secondlook | October 17, 2011, 9:41 pm 9:41 pm
Obama says he wants to fix our roads and bridges, how many roads and bridges could have been repaired with the $527 million Obama wasted on the Solyndra deal??? If there is nothing to hide, why is the White House trying to block the Solyndra investigation??? The worst part is, Obama just loaned Sunpower, another solar panel maker even more money, another $1.2 billion may be down the drain! Over the last 3 years Sunpower stock has dropped to $8 per share, from a high of over $100 per share. Don’t look like a very good bet to me!
Posted by: RadioMan77 | October 17, 2011, 9:44 pm 9:44 pm
All of the first failed “stimulus” money still hasn’t be deployed. Why isn’t anybody asking about this in the face of Obama’s next sure-to-fail expensive experiment?
Posted by: s | October 17, 2011, 9:52 pm 9:52 pm
Bush started the green loans.
Posted by: Secondlook | October 17, 2011, 9:55 pm 9:55 pm
You don’t have any proof Obama was anywhere involved in the Solyndra dead, so I strongly doubt you’ve got proof of any other ‘crony capitalism’ from the President.
Posted by: Jenny | October 17, 2011, 9:01 pm 9:01 pm
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So why is he covering it up Teirra? whats he afraid of? …….Going to jail? LMAO
Its illegal to use taxpayer money to pay billionaire investors losses
Posted by: The Bogus President | October 17, 2011, 9:55 pm 9:55 pm
All of the first failed “stimulus” money still hasn’t be deployed. Why isn’t anybody asking about this in the face of Obama’s next sure-to-fail expensive experiment?
Posted by: s | October 17, 2011, 9:52 pm 9:52 pm
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Thats part of the “million” donors money going into democrat coffers ya think?
Posted by: The Bogus President | October 17, 2011, 9:58 pm 9:58 pm
This isn’t even what we as a nation shou;d be talking about and the GOP knows it. In the area of free enterprise companies fail all the time. The problem with this failure; however is that it has tio do with a ‘renewable energy company’ and the big oil and coal lobbyists who support the GOP want to use this as a negative distraction example to prevent the nation from going forward in this type of research and development. These are the type(s) of companies of the future….and future jobs for middle class people. Until those of you who willingly get distracted with ‘negativity’ get smarter…the ‘good ol’ rich boys of the past’….will continue to rule…to your detriment.
Posted by: CND FOX | October 17, 2011, 10:09 pm 10:09 pm
Obama, Al Gore and the rest of the “Green Energy” liars and supporters have failed to realize that the U.S. has ALREADY lost he war to make solar power panels! China does it cheaper than we can and will continue to beat us on price per unit, all day long! Solar panels typically loose 50% of there output after only 10 years, its a BIG LIE that solar rpanels last long enough to be cost effective, the system batteries must also be replaced every 5 – 7 years at the cost of thousands of dollars! This is at best a niche power solution, fine in areas that have no grid access, but is not ready for prime time!
Posted by: RadioMan77 | October 17, 2011, 10:15 pm 10:15 pm
You don’t have any proof Obama was anywhere involved in the Solyndra dead, so I strongly doubt you’ve got proof of any other ‘crony capitalism’ from the President.
Posted by: Jenny | October 17, 2011, 9:01 pm 9:01 pm
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So why is he covering it up Teirra?
POSTED BY: THE BOGUS PRESIDENT | OCTOBER 17, 2011, 9:55 PM 9:55 PM
Again, you have no proof anything is being covered up. The White House says all communications regarding Solyndra and the White House involvement have been turned over by the agencies involved. You pretend there is a coverup, but you have no proof anything is being covered up.
And you don’t have any proof Obama was anywhere involved in the Solyndra deal, so I strongly doubt you’ve got proof of any other ‘crony capitalism’ from the President.
If you’ve got proof of other ‘crony capitalism’ the President was involved in, I’m sure we’d all like to see the proof.
Posted by: Jenny | October 17, 2011, 10:15 pm 10:15 pm
Is SunPowerGate coming? Did that DOE Fed loan of $1.2 billion actually go towards building a solar mfgr plant in Mexicali, Mexico? Loaning money to a company building a plant for foreign workers? Umm..could be interesting. You can Google it for yourselves. Looks like Mexicali is making highly efficient solar panels and roof tile systems. Come on media. You got on to SolyndraGate and Guns for Mexico. Check out SunPower for us. If the story is true, what does that say about a person slamming Repubs about the Jobs Bill and here we may be sending jobs straight to Mexico with the full backing of the Fed. There is no doubt there is a logical reason.
Posted by: Salty | October 17, 2011, 10:17 pm 10:17 pm
All of the first failed “stimulus” money still hasn’t be deployed.
Posted by: s | October 17, 2011, 9:52 pm 9:52 pm
Oh yeah, how much hasn’t been deployed?
Posted by: Frank | October 17, 2011, 10:20 pm 10:20 pm
If the story is true
POSTED BY: SALTY | OCTOBER 17, 2011, 10:17 PM 10:17 PM
It isn’t.
Posted by: Janis | October 17, 2011, 10:22 pm 10:22 pm
“If you’ve got proof of other ‘crony capitalism’ the President was involved in, I’m sure we’d all like to see the proof.”
Posted by: Jenny | October 17, 2011, 10:15 pm 10:15 pm
I guess liberals like yourself have a hard time dealing with common sense issues! If Obama’s White House BLOCKS every effort to uncover the proof, its hard to show any! But suspicion of a crime is reason enough to conduct an investigation into why U.S. Title 17 may have been breached when the Solyndra loan was restructured to protect Obama’s buddies! If that did happen then it may be proof of illegal crony capitalism!!! Deal with it!
Posted by: RadioMan77 | October 17, 2011, 10:34 pm 10:34 pm
Janis: How do you know that? Aug 5, 2011, press release by SunPower themselves says it is. Another one on Aug 12 says so. What’s not to believe? The loan came thru DOE’s 1705 program. Google “SunPower Plant in Mexicali.” Check it out and get back to us. Are you saying none of the $1.2 billion was used to build this plant? Why would DOE even think about giving these folks money unless they had a guarantee all money would be used for jobs in this country? Waiting to hear.
Posted by: Salty | October 17, 2011, 10:41 pm 10:41 pm
POSTED BY: RADIOMAN77 | OCTOBER 17, 2011, 10:34 PM 10:34 PM
You have a different sense of justice Radioman. The White House has ensured all communication between the relevant departments and the White House about Solyndra have been supplied. That does not make the guilty of anything. In fact in the United States the rule of law holds, and until someone is proven guilty (like Scooter Liddy in VP Cheney’s office) that person is innocent. You being a good right wing totalitarian have it the other way around – the President is guilty until provedn innocent. Sorry, maybe that’s perfect for your ideal little totalitarian right wing fantasy, but not for the United States of America.
Posted by: Jenny | October 17, 2011, 11:07 pm 11:07 pm
POSTED BY: SALTY | OCTOBER 17, 2011, 10:41 PM 10:41 PM
Show me any indication the DOE funds were used to construct a plant in Mexico. We’d all like to see that I’m sure.
Posted by: Janis | October 17, 2011, 11:10 pm 11:10 pm
[sarcasm]
Most transparent administration evah!
[/sarcasm]
Posted by: Noz | October 17, 2011, 11:39 pm 11:39 pm
“The White House has ensured all communication between the relevant departments and the White House about Solyndra have been supplied.”
Posted by: Jenny | October 17, 2011, 11:07 pm 11:07 pm
Sorry Jenny, but just because the White House says so, doesn’t make it so! – It didn’t work for Nixon, it won’t work for Obama either! – Not cooperating with this investigation raises even more suspicion of a crime! – Once again I ask you where is the transparent government Obama promised??? Or was that just another example of left wing liberal hypocrisy???
Posted by: RadioMan77 | October 17, 2011, 11:42 pm 11:42 pm
Crony capitalism, of course.
Waste of tax payer dollars, which the WH knew would be wasted, before the fact. Obama just didn’t care………he was making a news video to support his ideology on green jobs, and that was all there was to it, and he didn’t care how much money he wasted, to make that happen.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | October 18, 2011, 12:32 am 12:32 am
Waste of tax payer dollars, which the WH knew would be wasted, before the fact. Obama just didn’t care………
POSTED BY: RICK MCDANIEL | OCTOBER 18, 2011, 12:32 AM 12:32 AM
You have no idea what the President did or didn’t know about this file. Why pretend you do?
Posted by: Jamie | October 18, 2011, 1:08 am 1:08 am
Obama, Al Gore and the rest of the “Green Energy” liars have failed to realize that the U.S. has ALREADY lost the war to make solar power panels! China does it cheaper than we can and will continue to beat us on price per unit, all day long! Solar panels typically loose 40% to 50% of there output after only 10 years, its a BIG LIE that solar panels last long enough to be cost effective, the system batteries must also be replaced every 5 – 7 years at the cost of thousands of dollars! This is at best a niche power solution, fine if used in areas that have no grid access, but is not ready for prime time as a replacement for the far more efficient power plants in use today! It all comes down the cost per watt, the sun light might be free but the technology to make it useful is still not cost effective!
Posted by: RadioMan77 | October 18, 2011, 1:35 am 1:35 am
Obama did not know and he had nothing to do with all these solar energy bogus loans. You right wing nut jobs can either take it or leave it. It is what it is the man said he had nothing to hide and he is innocent until being proven guilty. I do nor believe he would do something to be impeached and to be subjected to deportation back to Kenya. Do people play golf in Kenya ?
Posted by: acdc2012 | October 18, 2011, 1:47 am 1:47 am
POSTED BY: RADIOMAN77 | OCTOBER 18, 2011, 1:35 AM 1:35 AM
What do you expect the species will use when all the oil, gas and coal are gone?
Posted by: terry | October 18, 2011, 2:23 am 2:23 am
Vicki | October 17, 2011, 9:04 pm —- Wrong! These aren’t start up companies, they’re existing companies. Here are the FACTS: 1) This administration gave up $500 million to a company that somehow went bankrupt within a year. 2) The leaders of that company plead the 5th admendment in front of this administration. 3) Our leaders in this administration will not release the information requested. Given those 3 simple facts, it would certainly appeaar they are hiding something. Wake up.
Posted by: CommonSenseParty | October 18, 2011, 2:39 am 2:39 am
Short and sweet: Outing an undercover CIA official, coverup, Valarie Plame=TREASON
Posted by: howdymo1 | October 18, 2011, 3:05 am 3:05 am
When an administration participates in a coverup of the exposure of an undercover CIA official that was executed by high levels of the White House, it’s TREASON. It had the potential to cost many lives and they didn’t care one iota about it. They just callously consider it collateral damage.
Posted by: howdymo1 | October 18, 2011, 3:16 am 3:16 am
“What do you expect the species will use when all the oil, gas and coal are gone?” – terry
We could power a couple of wind turbines with the hot air coming from the OWS crowd.
Posted by: Noz | October 18, 2011, 8:55 am 8:55 am
Ummm that’s funny. Didn’t Cherney and Bush and Reagan and Clinton ALL use executive privilege. Every president has used it and will continue to use it. Is it right? Not really, but there is a reason for it – Presidents have to feel that they can be confided in with out the threat of having to turn every thing over to Congress. That was Bush/Cheney’s argument at least so I guess it should be good enough for thisPresident.
Posted by: pksk531 | October 18, 2011, 10:25 am 10:25 am
……don’t you just love it when the White House occupant has an ATTORNEY respond to a legitimate request for information when a situation where the taxpayers end up holding the bag A G A I N for this Administration…….that, by itself, says more to proving the point that a cover-up most likely is, indeed, underway. ….pure, unadulterated fecal matter.
Posted by: justj joey | October 18, 2011, 10:27 am 10:27 am
Didn’t Cherney and Bush and Reagan and Clinton ALL use executive privilege. Every president has used it and will continue to use it. Is it right? Not really, but there is a reason for it – Presidents have to feel that they can be confided in with out the threat of having to turn every thing over to Congress. That was Bush/Cheney’s argument at least so I guess it should be good enough for thisPresident.
POSTED BY: PKSK531 | OCTOBER 18, 2011, 10:25 AM 10:25 AM
Please, don’t quote history to the ignorant right wingers, you’ll interfere with their bigotry.
Posted by: bill | October 18, 2011, 4:02 pm 4:02 pm
“That was Bush/Cheney’s argument at least so I guess it should be good enough for thisPresident.” – Mr. Bill
It’s not a good idea or very smart to let Bush/Cheney set the standards by which a President operates.
Just look how poorly Obama is doing following their lead.
Some folks call Barry, Bush 3.
Posted by: Noz | October 19, 2011, 9:22 am 9:22 am
Nice to see that the Republicans can take a little time away from their anti abortion crusade and bring up the nonissue of approving a loan that had already been approved by the Bush White house. But then, I guess it is time to take the “Bush” approach to this and just answer “eff you. I’m the president and I will not testify and I will not let anyone in my administration testify.” Once more the Republicans bring on the “stall” doing everything they can to stall taking any useful action in hopes that Americans will be dumb enough to vote for the failed conservative agenda.
Posted by: imtheoz | November 3, 2011, 4:36 pm 4:36 pm