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Geithner: I Take Full Responsibility

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 19, 2009 6:26 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Treasury chief Tim Geithner said today that he asked Chris Dodd to add a stimulus loophole allowing AIG to dole out bonuses. Geithner told CNN he felt he had no choice because the government would have been vulnerable to lawsuits if it tried to stop them. "But we also worked with (Dodd) to strengthen the overall framework, and his bill has this very important provision we're relying on now to go back and see if we can recoup payments that were made that there was no legal ability to block."

Geithner's been under heavy criticism for allowing the bonuses under his watch. "You know, it's my responsibility," he said. "I was in a position where I didn't know about those sooner, I take full responsibility for that." He again maintained that he didn't learn of "the full scale" of the bonuses until March 10. The interview airs tonight on Campbell Brown's show.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner looks on at left as President Barack Obama makes remarks on AIG Wednesday.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner looks on at left as President Barack Obama makes remarks on AIG Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner listens as President Barack Obama delivers remarks to small-business owners Monday.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner listens as President Barack Obama delivers remarks to small-business owners Monday.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
President Barack Obama, accompanied by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, left, makes remarks on AIG Wednesday.
President Barack Obama, accompanied by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, left, makes remarks on AIG Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 6 comments
freethemall
Mar 20, 2009 12:03 PM CDT
Repost: Oh! I didn't realize it was you, bunn16. Let me just hasten to add, that the decision to bail out AIG happened during the Bush administration. I don't fault them for making that decision, although in the final analysis, it may turn out that it would have been better to just let them fail. As I say, it wasn't easy to know just what to do.
RobN
Mar 20, 2009 6:09 AM CDT
I love the way he and the President are battling to take the blame while always following up with the explanation that they weren't in charge when it all started. Of course Geitner was a Fed Reserve guy but that probably didn't give him much insight into how corporate pay structures work.
northeast
Mar 20, 2009 5:32 AM CDT
Dodd has campaign contributions in the hundreds of thousands from AIG. Geithner doesn't. It looks much cleaner if Geithner takes the blame for requesting a very AIG-friendly provision than it does if Dodd did it on his own.

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