Abuse of power in Washington D.C.

(What follows are excerpts from a House committee hearing focused on the investigation of AIG and the recent bonuses paid by AIG. For the full source of this transcript, click here and here.)

Barney Frank (D-Mass) is currently questioning Edward Liddy, CEO of AIG, a man who took the thankless job of cleaning up the insurance giant for $1/year salary.

FRANK: But let me ask you this now, and you said some people are giving the -- the bonuses back. I'm now asking you to send us the names of those who received bonuses who have not given them back. Can you do that?

LIDDY: Sir, I -- I will, if I can be absolutely assured that they will remain confidential.

FRANK: Well, I -- I won't give you that assurance, sir. And so if that's the condition, it would be my intention to ask this committee to subpoena them.

And I would -- this is a situation where there's a lot of public activity. I ask you to submit the names of the people who've received the bonuses, noting that they paid them back or not, and I won't accept them under confidentiality, personally. In fact, you submitted some confidential information and I, frankly, threw it away after reading it, because I was afraid I would inadvertently breach the confidentiality.

But I -- I do ask that you submit those names without restriction. And if you feel unable to do that, then I will ask the committee to subpoena them.

LIDDY: Congressman, if -- if you'll -- if you'll let me explain, I very much want to comply with your request. I would hope it doesn't take a subpoena. If -- if it does, then we will obviously comply with the law.

I'm just really concerned about the safety of our people, so let -- let me just read two things to you. "All the executives and their families should be executed with piano wire around their necks." "My greatest hope: If the government can't do this properly, we, the people, will take it in our own hands and see that justice is done. I'm looking for all the CEOs names, kids, where they live, et cetera."

FRANK: I -- I understand that. Many of us get these kinds of threats. Clearly, those threats are despicable, people who engage in this kind of threat. And I would say to my colleagues, the rhetoric can get overheated, so we ought to be very careful.

I will be willing to be guided to some extent by what the security officials may say, but this is an important public subject. And my guess is that there are probably threats aimed, without too much specificity, about people who work there.

So I am going to keep that request on the table. I will consult with the law enforcement people, including the federal law enforcement people. And if they tell us they think there is a serious threat, we will have to take that into consideration.

But I -- I do want to keep that request on the table, and it is subject to our being persuaded. If I ask for a subpoena, it would be a committee markup. It's not a unilateral decision. And, yes, it's legitimate to take into account.