More Shots at Geithner: "He's Under Fire from All Sides"

The AIG brouhaha is spurring others to take a shot at the Treasury Secretary.

Sen. Richard Shelby, ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, charged that Geithner had known about the AIG bonus payments before they were made and failed to stop them. "I don't know what President Obama knew about it," Shelby said. "I'd say he probably didn't know about it," reports Huffngton Post.

Shelby said that Geithner "either knew or should have known what was going on. We need to know, what are the details of this? When were the bonuses signed up? Who's getting it?" According to HuffPo, Shelby stopped short of calling for Geithner's resignation, saying "he's under fire from all sides now."

"I don't know if he should resign over this," Shelby said. "He works for the president of the United States. But I can tell you, this is just another example of where he seems to be out of the loop. Treasury should have let the American people know about this."

The tone deaf Geithner issued a letter late today to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defending the actions of the president, himself and AIG president Liddy. And, in general double talk, said Liddy's hands were legally tied, but Treasury lawyers continue to burn the midnight oils making sure the contracts are indeed airtight.

Meanwhile, while the outrage continues over a few million, the master multi-billion dollar manipulator Hank Paulson is expected to have a column in tomorrow's FT where he outlines, and I am not making this up, a comprehensive approach to regulatory reform.