White House threatens to sick press corps on bank?

A leading bankruptcy attorney (and Democratic donor) Thomas Lauria claimed that the White House threatened the investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners that it would sick the press corps on them if they opposed Obama’s plans.

Audio here from NewsTalk 760 on the Frank Beckmann show.

Mark Whittington at Associated Content writes:

Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.

The plan would require creditors to accept 29 cents on the dollar for the $6.8 billion owed by Chrysler.

The scary thing here is that if what Lauria is saying is true, the media are now a quasi-official arm of the state. It goes (or rather went) without saying that the press corps are not working for the White House.

Both Perella Weinberg Partners and the White House deny Lauria’s charges.

Maybe Obama missed the fact that the Marine Corps are at his disposal, NOT the press corps.