Major media outlets yet to report IG testimony implicating Bush administration in AIG bonuses

[fascisthunter]

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In prepared testimony for a March 19 House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Barofsky stated, "Preliminary information we have seen indicates that the TARP contract between AIG and Treasury that was entered into back in November specifically contemplated the payment of bonuses and retention payments to AIG employees, including AIG's Senior Partners." He also stated that his office "will be reviewing the process at Treasury with respect to Treasury's decision to authorize and approve such payments, both at the time it entered into the contract with AIG and since that time." During an exchange with Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) in the hearing, Barofsky explained that in AIG's November 2008 agreement with the Bush Treasury Department, "retention payments were explicitly contemplated" (transcript retrieved from the Nexis database):

REP. ROSKAM: You mentioned the online aspect of the disclosure of the TARP agreements. Would those online disclosures, as they're currently exercised by Treasury, would they have revealed the AIG problem?

MR. BAROFSKY: It would have revealed that in the AIG agreement with Treasury, retention payments were explicitly contemplated. It didn't list the contracts; it didn't list the amounts, but in the executive compensation provisions, there's an explicit reference to retention payments in calculating the total amount of payment a senior executive could receive. So that issue was, in fact, in those agreements.

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http://mediamatters.org/items/200903200029?f=h_top

[Supersedeas]

1. the GOP Corporate Media Establishment has their marching orders