BY VICTORIA CRAIG
 

You're watching multisource political video news alaysis from Newsy. 

A five-hour hearing on the now-bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra, which received half a billion dollars in government loan guarantees, quickly turned political Thursday. NBC Nightly News explains the details of the hearing.

“Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who was in charge of the program defended his agency’s handling of the situation under aggressive questioning from skeptical Republicans who allege big campaign donors had too much influence over this loan program.”

Chu is the first high-level member of the Obama administration to testify about the Solyndra loan program. But as the LA Times suggests, he refused to be cornered into an apology -- or admit to any political favors.

“Chu firmly pushed back against allegations that political favoritism and bureaucratic incompetence led his agency to approve the Solyndra loan guarantee... [He said] the company failed after demand for solar equipment slackened and panel prices plummeted from the effects of China's heavy subsidies for its own manufacturers. House Republicans assert that Chu should have seen such a fall coming.”

But as Fox Business’ Neil Cavuto explains, Chu testified the White House never contacted him about Solyndra and never raised any questions or concerns about the company -- but he did take some form of responsibility.

“Under pressure and under oath, Chu telling the House Energy and Commerce Committee that he made all the decisions involving that loan that crashed and burned into the now famous solar panel company. Further, Chu saying he knew nothing of these reported early warning signs raised as far back as 2009 that Solyndra might have serious financial problems.”

Despite Chu’s insistence politics wasn’t involved in the loan guarantees and that the Department of Energy knew nothing about Solyndra’s financial situation, the Wall Street Journal argues timing of a round of layoffs paints a completely different picture.

“Solyndra LLC postponed a layoff announcement until the day after the 2010 midterm elections following a push by the Department of Energy for a delay... In October 2010, Solyndra was struggling financially and in talks with the Energy Department about restructuring its loan. Solyndra's chief executive, Brian Harrison, informed the Energy Department that he wanted to announce some layoffs internally...”

But deciding who knew what and when isn’t the end of the battle. As CBS explains, another of Republicans’ biggest problems with Solyndra’s loan restructuring is taxpayers were second in line to private investors to get their money back after the company went under.

“Republicans pointed to an internal e-mail from last February. A Treasury Department official advised Energy that only the justice department could sign off on a deal to make taxpayers subordinate to private investors. But Chu said he didn’t need to consult Justice because his legal experts signed off.”

At this point, it’s not clear what the next step is for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. But The Hill is reporting the committee isn’t ruling out asking for potential testimonies from White House aids.