About Face! Obama Admin Launches BP Oil Criminal Investigation Early

Commence the BP criminal investigation! One suspects the Obama administration is hoping to redirect the nation’s anger of the Gulf oil spill where (they feel) it belongs: squarely on the BP exec whose, possibly criminal, behavior may have resulted in this catastrophe. Despite originally planning to hold off until the leak was capped, the Justice Dept has instead decided to launch a criminal investigation now. Says Mike Allen: “The administration divorced BP yesterday, going public with the criminal investigation earlier than planned.”

The focus of the investigation will be two-fold. One is finding out whether the company was criminally negligent and did not take the necessary precautions to protect the environment. Second, did they make false statements to regulators, something CBS reports, some senators already have accused BP of doing to to win approval for the rig. The latter will likely receive increased attention from both the media and the White House, in so far as if Justice can prove false statements were made it will give backing to the administration’s claim they were mislead early on by BP.

Meanwhile, Politico points out that BP is “under no obligation to keep quiet.” Meaning we could see dueling press conferences in the next few weeks as both sides struggle to ‘win’ the narrative. One suspects that as much of a bruising as President Obama is taking over this the country is still likely to side with him over BP. And last night George Stephanopoulos reported that despite AG Holder’s refusal to name names, as it were, “it’s pretty clear they have BP in their sites.” Watch below.