Lawrence Summers, one of the top candidates to lead the U.S. Federal Reserve, was being beaten up, and his friends from his White House years wanted to help him.
So earlier this month, recently departed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other former officials in the administration of President Barack Obama joined Summers for a private strategy call, according to people familiar with the discussion.
The old colleagues compared notes on what reporters were asking about Summers, who was under a steady assault from liberals who consider him as soft on regulating banks, and mapped out how they might respond.