It would be a waste of brain space even to attempt to hide how much I love this story. Issa is rightly angered that Geithner and NY Fed lawyer Thomas Baxter gave a private briefing last week to Rep. Cummings, and to no one else. So he's demanding that Turbo show up early for school on Wednesday morning and give him the same information he gave to Cummings and presumably to Democratic committee staffers.
Geithner isn't required to appear for the meeting, and he probably won't, which makes it even more awesome. Because then Issa is gonna be all the more righteously pissed off when he confronts Geithner in the actual hearings, just an hour later.
In case you didn't notice from the my 3 previous stories this morning, Darrell Issa is already angry about coordinated efforts by NY Fed lawyers to fight AIG transparency and disclosure. Just a spark of intransigence from Geithner, and Issa goes ballistic. Three, two, one...pissed-off, blast-off.
-----
Source: Politico
The top Republican on the House Oversight committee is feeling snubbed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Geithner and the New York Federal Reserve’s Thomas Baxter met earlier this month with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) in advance of the committee’s Wednesday Capitol Hill hearing on insurance giant American International Group. But Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) now wants the whole committee to get the scoop.
Issa is asking that Geithner and Baxter brief the full committee privately at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, before the panel hears publicly from Geithner about his role in allowing AIG to pay out pricey insurance contracts to banks after it had received a taxpayer bailout.
“While I appreciate the diligence of Congressman Cummings in receiving this briefing, I believe it is important for all of the Members of the Committee to receive such a briefing before this hearing,” Issa wrote in his letter, which was obtained by POLITICO.
This pre-briefing is not likely to happen, a committee aide said. But the public hearing will provide for one of the more interesting inquests of the year. Specifically, lawmakers contend that Geithner and the New York Fed pressured AIG not to disclose the full payment of credit-default swap contracts to major banks after the insurance giant got a giant bailout.
Geithner is perhaps one of the most embattled members of the Obama administration, so Republicans are likely to use the opportunity to draw fresh blood and score points against an already unpopular White House.
New York Fed officials, the Troubled Asset Relief Program’s inspector general and a former AIG official are expected to attend. A committee aide said Monday that former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is also likely to attend.