On Fox News today, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) came right out and says what the rest of the Hill is already thinking:
“This whole Goldman Sachs thing — isn’t that a little odd that all of a sudden, right at the height of this legislative period, we suddenly have the SEC filing suit against Goldman Sachs? I think the timing is very suspect.”
[. . .]
“There’s something terribly wrong here and I don’t know what it is, but to do that right at this particular time, yknow, the timing is very suspect in my eyes.”
UPDATE: And true to form, the tireless Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) wants answers:
“The timing of the SEC’s filing of a civil securities fraud action against Goldman Sachs has created serious questions about the commission’s independence and impartiality,” said Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, in a letter to the SEC on Tuesday.
An SEC spokesman had no comment.
Issa is asking Schapiro to provide information on whether any SEC employees or commissioners told the Obama administration or key Democrats and Democratic campaign committees about its plans to charge Goldman before the case was publicly announced.
“The events of the past five days have fueled legitimate suspicion on the part of the American people that the commission has attempted to assist the White House, the Democratic party, and Congressional Democrats by timing the suit to coincide with the Senate’s consideration of financial regulatory legislation, or by providing Democrats with advance notice,” Issa said in the letter.
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