Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson got down on bended knee in front of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to “break the tension and to get a smile or laughter” during the darkest days of the financial crisis but said “it didn’t really have its desired effect.”

Paulson, in a wide-ranging interview conducted by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, recounted a key meeting last fall between Republican and Democratic lawmakers - including Pelosi and then-presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.