Secretary Paulson now claims that even had he known what was going to happen, he could not have done anything about it.

Judged as of 2011-04-05. The test is whether Henry Paulson, before that date, publicly said in substance that even if he had foreseen the crisis, he could not have done anything to prevent it. Sources include his testimony, interviews, speeches and his memoir 'On the Brink'. TRUE: a dated statement by Paulson clearly says this, for example that even with foresight he lacked the power or tools to prevent the crisis. MOSTLY TRUE: Paulson made a closely related claim, such as that regulators lacked the authority or tools to stop it, which is fairly summarised this way, but he did not explicitly frame it as 'even if he had known'. MIXED: Paulson's statements are equivocal, saying both that little could be done and that some actions were possible, so the summary captures only part of his position. MOSTLY FALSE: Burry's paraphrase distorts a narrower statement, for example a remark about one specific tool or a single episode presented as a general claim. FALSE: Paulson's dated statements from that period say the opposite, for example that with foresight he could have acted to prevent or reduce the crisis, and no statement of the claimed kind exists in his public record.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Even if he were 'omniscient,' Paulson says, financial meltdown was inevitable Cornell Chronicle · 12 November 2010

   “if I'd been totally omniscient, there's not a single thing I could have done about it at that time”

2. E2 Even if he were 'omniscient,' Paulson says, financial meltdown was inevitable Cornell Chronicle · 12 November 2010

   “said that it could not have been prevented, due in part to the state of federal regulation and policies, and an overstimulated housing market.”

E1 is a Cornell Chronicle report dated 2010-11-12, before the judging date. It quotes Paulson as saying "if I'd been totally omniscient, there's not a single thing I could have done about it at that time." E2 is from the same article and summarises him as saying the crisis could not have been prevented, partly because of federal regulation and policies. That is a dated, independently reported statement saying in substance that even with foresight he could not have acted, which meets the TRUE criterion.