Mr. Geithner’s testimony received staunch

Mr. Geithner’s testimony received staunch support from his aion gold predecessor Mr. Paulson, who had also been on Capitol Hill many times to answer questions about the bailout.

Mr. Paulson told the Oversight Committee that he had played no role in the decisions that had prompted the Wednesday’s hearing — the payment of roughly $30 billion to A.I.G.’s trading partners, and the e-mail messages aion kinah that seemed to suggest that the New York Fed had wanted to omit some of those details from public documents.

But Mr. Paulson said repeatedly that he approved of the bailout overall and that the New York Fed had had no other choice.

Thomas C. Baxter Jr., the New York Fed’s general counsel, offered explanations for its involvement in editing A.I.G.’s public aion kina disclosures about the bailout. He said that descriptions about the flow of bailout money to A.I.G.’s trading partners were not needed because the company’s regulatory filings offered more precise information.