Solyndra Execs To Skip Today's House Hearing

Solyndra's CEO and its Chief Financial Officer will skip today's House hearing that is investigating why the company got a suspect loan guarantee from the Obama Administration. They asked to appear next week instead:

Brian Harrison, Solyndra's president and CEO and Chief Financial Officer Wilbur Stover requested the delay and told House GOP aides late Monday they’re not planning to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights when they appear next week.

FBI agents searched Harrison’s home earlier this month as part of an investigation with the Energy Department’s inspector general regarding Solyndra’s handling of $535 million in federal loan guarantees.

Last month, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and laid off 1,100 workers.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will still question two Obama Admin officials who had input into the deal. At the top of the agenda: did the Obama Administration rush the deal for a photo op; and why did the Bush Administration say no to a loan guarantee for Solyndra?

Apparently, OMB projections at the time of the loan showed that Solyndra would run out of money in 2011. Actually September 2011. It sounds an awful lot like the risks were known. Did the Obama White House disagree with the risk assessment or just not care? I think we know the answer to this, but it will be instructive to watch a pair of Administration officials try and talk their way around it without perjuring themselves.

*Pic courtesy of @CuffyP.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 07:20 AM

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