"Henry Paulson Confronted on Threatening Congress With Martial Law"
This story is almost certainly true!
In October 2008 when the Congress first voted down the TARP Act, the US faced systemic banking failure. That means the threat of the similtaneous failure of all banks in the US, and probably the world.
The stakes were unbelievably high. Very few people understood how high and many congressmen voted against TARP on points of principal. (Democrats didn't want to help Wall Street and Republicans didn't think government should use tax payer funds for "Corporate Welfare".)
During the three days between the first failed vote and the eventual passing of the TARP Act, Paulson, Geithner and other Treasury officials spent endless hours pushing congressmen into closed rooms to explain what was likely to happen if the Act was not passed.
In those conversations, I expect that Martial Law was one of the milder consequences discussed.
