The Obama administration was considering whether to pump another $5.4 million into the failing solar panel manufacturer Solyndra in late August, according to hundreds of pages of new emails obtained by Fox News.
The emails show that Energy Secretary Steven Chu and his staff were eager to find a way to keep the failing company alive, but officials at the White House, Treasury Department and Office of Management and Budget intervened to cut off any more funds from going to the company.
A conference call was hastily arranged on Aug. 26 to consider the matter, and an email exchange about the discussion, suggests the White House was more deeply concerned about the story developing into a major public relations headache than they have let on in recent days.
White House aide Heather Zichal emailed budget office official Jeffrey Zients to see if he would jump on the Solyndra call and he responded yes. He asked, "What's the deal?"
"*#-@show," was Zichal's one-word response to Zients.
Another email suggested that the ensuing controversy was going to be "a mess," according to the documents obtained by Fox News.
After the August conference call, officials familiar with the discussions told Fox News that there was unanimous opinion within the administration that no more money should go to Solyndra. The company filed for bankruptcy days later.
The emails are part of about 2,000 pages of documents sent late Friday to the House Energy and Commerce Committee as part of the Obama administration's ongoing cooperation with an investigation into whether undue political influence was used by George Kaiser, an Obama fundraiser and Solyndra investor, to approve the original $535 million government loan guarantee to the company
Let me be the first to say that I am happy to see an administration be forthcoming with documents requested as part of a congressional inquiry. Kudos to them for doing what is right even if it is embarrassing. Any chances they will be as forthcoming regarding the gun walking they authorized?
