WASHINGTON -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Monday called for Energy Secretary Steven Chu to be fired for his decision to allow Solyndra to keep receiving taxpayer money even after the struggling solar company had technically already defaulted on the $535 million federal loan guaranteed by the Energy Department.
The long-shot presidential candidate attacked Chu on his website Monday, earning Gingrich the dubious honor of being the first politician to publicly attack the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who arrived in Washington via academia.
âThe president says he has full confidence in Secretary Chu despite this scandal," Gingrich wrote on his website. "What kind of confidence can we have in a president who refuses to hold his cabinet officers accountable?â
âAs President, I would have fired Secretary Chu for so grossly mismanaging taxpayer dollars," Gingrich continued. "Furthermore, to protect taxpayers, I would have blocked any additional loan guarantees until a full investigation had taken place into the mismanagement and potential corruption in the loan for Solyndra."
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