THEN WHAT IS IT ABOUT? Rahm Emanuel On Solyndra: It’s Not About Warning Signs.
Funny, Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel just can’t remember a darn thing about White House involvement in the $535 Department of Energy loan to bankrupt solar company Solyndra.
In an interview with Chicago radio station WLSAM on Tuesday, now-Chicago Mayor Emanuel said that, while he can’t remember anything about Solyndra because he’s so terribly focused on being mayor of Chicago, the investment had nothing to do with “warning signs.”
Emanuel originally dodged questions about Solyndra when asked by WSLAM about it several weeks ago, saying, “I don’t actually remember that or know about it.”
However, emails disclosed by the White House show pressure on the Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget to approve the loan.
“Ron said this morning that the POTUS definitely wants to do this (or Rahm definitely wants the POTUS to do this?),” one White House staffer told an Obama scheduler in August 2009, referring to former Chief of Staff to the Vice President Ron Klain.
When a reporter asked if the emails had perhaps jogged Emanuel’s memory, the former White House Chief of Staff said, “No, because I’m focused on exactly what I need to do here in the city of Chicago.”
Sounds like Emanuel’s exhibiting warning signs of Alzheimer’s. Conveniently.
UPDATE: A reader emails: “It’s not Alzheimer’s, as John Kass puts it- it’s ‘Fedheimer’s’ – the inability to recall details when in the presence of federal investigators.” I hear that’s quite common in Chicago.