Obama Citizenship

White House Allegedly Threatens Private Groups Over Chrysler Bailout; Denies Charges

By Phil

Via FoundingBloggers.com:

[via Instapundit] If what Tom Lauria says in the clip at this link is true, our government is officially a banana republic.

?One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House?.that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation?

If only the Progressive-Socialist Democrats would be this cruel to our enemies. No, their intimidation is only reserved for American citizens.

The US administration threatening to destroy American citizens because they dare to disagree with the President?s demands? If that isn?t a high crime and misdemeanor, it should be.

And what makes the White House feel so confident that it can get the press to do whatever they?..oh yeah. Never mind.

We eagerly await the rationalizations from the Left as to why this is no big deal.

h/t Drudge Potato Al

UPDATE: Powerline agrees.

Also, via HotAirPundit:

Chilling Audio From WJR via Mark Levin Show:

Chicago style politics, makes it to the Whitehouse…

Tom Lauria “One of my clients was directly threatened by the Whitehouse”
“Full force of the Whitehouse Press Corp would destroy his reputation”

From newsbusters
If the Bush White House had engaged in anything similar to what’s being described here, there would be calls for impeachment.
Maybe there should be similar talk now. As it is, the establishment media will more than likely work very hard to ignore this.
It should not be ignored. What attorney Tom Lauria describes is nothing short of chilling.

Tom Lauria: “Let me tell you it’s no fund standing on this side of the fence opposing the President of the United States. In fact, let me just say, people have asked me who I represent, and that’s a moving target.

I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday.One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House, and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence. [emphases original]

Here’s the bottom line:

Any individual or other entity who willingly takes on their share of a private enterprise and inherently risks their capital by engaging in such behavior has a contractual obligation for their particular stake, regardless of size, in said enterprise.

For the Executive branch of the federal government to allegedly threaten private individuals over their legitimate contractual obligations is nothing short of a usurpation of executive power and authority RE: the Constitution and would be nothing short of unethical, immoral, criminal, treasonous, and more than worthy of impeachment.

On the bright side, all it takes is for individuals to simply stand up to this President and demand that their individual rights be respected; clearly this is not only not too much to ask, but is quite the obviously legally enforceable stance to take.

I have said the following in many ways on my web site and I will continue to say it, going forward:

If we, the People, do not stand up to this Administration and this President, what is going on with Chrysler will most assuredly continue and repeat with any other company, industry and/or individuals at the arbitrary will of an unshackled Executive branch.

Again, if these allegations are true, this would make President Nixon’s Watergate look like child’s play.

Update: Jake Tapper from ABCNews reports that the White House is denying the charges:

A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.

The White House said the story was false.

“The charge is completely untrue,” said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, “and there’s obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way.”

Thomas Lauria, Global Practice Head of the Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Group at White & Case, told ABC News that Rattner suggested to an official of the boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners that officials of the Obama White House would embarrass the firm for opposing the Obama administration plan, which President Obama announced Thursday, and which requires creditors to accept roughly 29 cents on the dollar for an estimated $6.8 billion owed by Chrysler.

Lauria first told the story, without naming Rattner, to Frank Beckmann on Detroit’s WJR-AM radio.

Perella Weinberg Partners, Lauria said, “was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That?s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence.”

Perella Weinberg Partners, which owned Chrysler debt through its Xerion Fund, was one of Lauria’s clients in this bankruptcy, but no longer is. Before the Thursday deadline, Joseph Perella and Peter Weinberg tried to join the larger creditors — JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs — who are owed roughly 70% of Chrysler’s debt and had already agreed to participate with the administration’s plan.

All four financial institutions are recipients of up to $100 billion in federal government bailout funds, though the Obama administration insists the matters were kept completely separate. …

Lauria said the president’s assertion that his clients weren’t willing to make any sacrifice is false. The clients were willing to take 50 cents on the dollar from Chrysler for their debt, he said.

President Obama also said of Lauria’s clients, “I don’t stand with them. I stand with Chrysler’s employees and their families and communities. I stand with Chrysler’s management, its dealers, and its suppliers. I stand with the millions of Americans who own and want to buy Chrysler cars. I don’t stand with those who held out when everybody else is making sacrifices.” …

Lauria said the president saying he doesn’t stand with his clients “kind of sounds like ‘You’re fair game.’ In whatever sense. People are scared. They have gotten death treats. Some have been told people are going to come to their houses. God forbid if some nut did something, I’m just wondering how the president would feel.”

The Miami area-based attorney describes himself as an independent, and says after waiting in line for six hours last November he ended up not voting in the presidential election. He donated $10,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2008 and $1,000 to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, in 2006.

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on May 02, 2009 (boomark / email).