President Barack Obama doesn’t have the “will” to go after those who committed fraud during the financial crisis, says Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute think tank.
"I think what is interesting is that the Justice Department has very much laid off Wall Street as it relates to the 2008 financial crisis," he tells Yahoo. “On that ground alone, they [Wall Street] have to be very pleased with President Obama.”
Financial-fraud prosecutions are at a 20-year low, and Schweizer doesn’t see that changing anytime soon. “I don’t think we’re going to see perp walks,” he says.
Editor's Note: Obama Donor Banned This Video But You Can Watch it Here
The biggest problem is a lack of commitment from Obama to prosecute fraud on Wall Street, Schweizer says. “You have to have the political will at the top.”
That was the case during the savings & loans crisis of the early 1990s, he says. “There was a commitment at the top that we have to go after these guys to send a message. That was done by the first President Bush, and it was continued by President Clinton.”
And now? “We just don’t have the commitment in Washington to go after banks and investment houses that commit fraud,” Schweizer says.
Others agree that the Obama administration has been weak in going after financial fraud.
“They’ve done nothing about it,” Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, tells Fox News.
Editor's Note: Obama Donor Banned This Video But You Can Watch it Here
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