Bill Clinton may have been joking, but his advice to former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on what to do about banking bailout opponent Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein shocked just the same: The former president suggested taking him to a dark alley and killing him.
Mr. Geithner recalled Mr. Clinton’s words of wisdom during an interview with The New York Times Magazine, published online on Thursday.
Mr. Geithner said: Mr Clinton told me “[I] could take Lloyd Blankfein into a dark alley. And slit his throat, and it would satisfy them for about two days. Then the blood lust would rise again.”
The context of the statement was that Mr. Geithner asked Mr. Clinton for suggestions about the bailout controversy, and the former president reportedly advised him to stand strong — that appeasement wouldn’t be a smart course of action for him to adopt.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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