Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he is "deeply offended" by an assertion in a new book that he is too cozy with some of the country's biggest financial institutions and mishandled the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout fund.
In an interview last night with Charlie Rose for CBS News, Geithner slammed Neil Barofsky, the former inspector general of TARP, who offers an unflattering critique of Geithner in his book, Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street.
Barofsky argues in his book that TARP was supposed to be a program that was to help Main Street and bolster the economy but was ultimately hijacked by the interests of Wall Street.
As President Obama aides designed the financial rescue plan early in the administration, Geithner opposed imposing tough conditions on financial institutions that received bailout funds.
Barofsky charges that Geithner oversaw and shaped a policy that saw the nation's largest banks get bigger and even more powerful.
Asked by Rose about the Barofsky book and the suggestion that he was too close to the banks as a result of his time heading the New York Federal Reserve, Geithner pushed back.
"You know, I'm deeply offended by that," Geithner said. "I find that deeply offensive. You know, it's the result of a urban myth. … A lot of people thought and wrote in publications of record that I spent my life at Goldman Sachs rather than as a public servant, which is what I'd done with my life. A lot of people thought the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was a bank — a private bank — rather than the fire station of the financial system."
Geithner has never worked at Goldman Sachs, but he's been incorrectly cited in the media as having worked for the investment bank during his time in the Obama administration.
On Twitter, Barofsky wrote today he never accused Geithner of spending years at Goldman Sachs.
"Geithner resorts to straw men," Barofsky wrote on Twitter.
David's journalism career spans three decades, including coverage of five presidential elections, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 2000 Florida presidential recount and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the White House for USA TODAY since 2005. His interests include history, politics, books, movies and college football -- not necessarily in that order. More about David
Follow the Oval on Twitter: @The Oval, @djusatoday.
Also contributing to the Oval: Richard Wolf @richardjwolf; Aamer Madhani @AamerISmad