McClatchy Tribune
WASHINGTON
Newt Gingrich, who has built his now resurgent presidential candidacy in part around criticism of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, found himself Wednesday defending the $1.6 million he reportedly earned while under contract to Freddie Mac.
Reporters in Iowa asked Gingrich about a Bloomberg News report that his consulting firm took in much more from Freddie Mac than previously reported.
The former House speaker said he didn’t know how much the federally backed mortgage company had paid him but that he welcomed the inquiry into his private-sector work.
“Everybody will dig up everything they can dig up,” said Gingrich, according to The New York Times. “That’s fine; they should.”
He said his Gingrich Group offered “strategic advice for a lot of different companies” but that he had done no lobbying.
GOP rival Michele Bachmann accused Gingrich of “shilling” for the company.
Gingrich was asked at a GOP debate last week what work he had done to secure a $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac.
“I offered them advice on precisely what they didn’t do,” he replied. “My advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, ‘We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do.’ As I said to them at the time, this is a bubble. This is insane.”
A Bloomberg story disputed Gingrich’s account, saying that those familiar with Gingrich’s work recalled no warnings about the company’s business model — and that instead, his job was to rally support for Freddie Mac among Republicans in Washington.
Gingrich’s campaign said Wednesday that Gingrich had not worked as a lobbyist or as an advocate for specific legislation involving Freddie Mac.
His consulting firm offered strategic advice to a “wide variety of clients about a wide variety of issues,” the campaign said in a statement, “including IBM, Microsoft, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and more.”
It said the fees paid to the firm were “comparable to that of many consulting firms.”
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments
peacelover, He's running for President,not Pope. Plus he's a lot smarter than your guy. Your guy also admitted to cocaine use.
peacelover and the rest of your ilk on here,
Bill Clinton? Strong moral character?
John Edwards? Used his wife while she was dying and afterwards.
Obama? Using cocaine? Strong moral character using an illegal substance?
I'm just trying to understand you left wing wackos. And your not just confused sometimes.
George W. Bush? A drunk. Used cocaine? Used marijuana? Strong moral character using an illegal substance?
Rocky,
You must be losing this battle,you're now getting personal which is what you lefty,liberal loons do.
No sense in debating a person with no sense.
Who defended who? I was just showing peacelover it's hypocrisy,much like your obvious hypocrisy and blind love of democrats.
Newt Gingrich is the smartest guy in the room; EVERYTIME. I frankly don't care how many wives he's had or how much money he earned as a consultant; he can lead America away from the socialist path to bankruptcy that Barrack Obama is traveling. Obama has a record of despair and destruction and you libs want to defend him? Either you haven't been paying attention or you are woefully stupid.
Has Obama accomplished even one positive thing in the last 3 years? How much was gasoline 3 years ago? What was the unemployment rate 3 years ago? What was the national debt 3 years ago? Are you better off today than you were 3 years ago? Let's review Obama's campaign promises again and see how many he has kept.
I'd love to see televised debates between Gingrich & Obama. Obama's ass will be bleeding & his teleprompter with piped in messages from George Soros will explode. Gingrich will destroy him.
Show me the documents! If he provided such advice to Frannie & Freddie than it is writing. The only way a consultant can protect themselves from accusations of providing poor advice is if it is in writing. But if you're taking lobbying fees you need no protections and can just grin, shake hands and pocket the cash. I hoped Newt would run, but he's done nothing but work to lose my vote since entering the race. Maybe Colin Powell will wake up tomorrow morning and realize his country still needs him to serve.
DB, yes we are better off now then we were 3 years ago.. Under Bush many were losing their jobs. Obama stopped that trend and now we are headed the other way.
http://groobiecat.blogspot.com/2011/0...
Wednesday, September 21, 2011Bush vs. Obama: Let's Compare the Unemployment Numbers
I’m always amazed at how people ascribe policies to presidents based on exactly when they took office. But that doesn’t make sense. It occurred to me that new Presidents can’t actually affect policy—at least, policy that impacts the macroeconomic status of the country—for many months into their presidency. And definitely not on “day one.” So, I headed over to the BLS web site to see for myself what this might mean for, say, unemployment numbers under Bush and Obama. What I found was eye-opening:
If one assumes that the policies of the previous President remain in effect for (at least) six months, a very interesting picture of unemployment emerges: It's clear that under Bush, unemployment increased from 4.6% to 9.5% (not the 7.3% level at the end of 2008). That's 2.2% more unemployment based on the assumption that "Bush policies" contributed to unemployment well into Obama's tenure. Since the Bush tax cuts have been in place for 10 years--and were extended again in December by President Obama, it's clear that they've done nothing; zero; zip; nada to create jobs. In fact, during this period, unemployment more than doubled. And although it's still unacceptably high under Obama, it's actually decreased .4% since his policies took effect (based on my basic assumption).
Obma said he will bring our troops home that bush sent into harms way, and he is doing that. Obama brought an end to Bin Ladin.
I agree the debt has gone way up, Just like it did under Bush.
Another Republican candidate will bite the poll dust! Looks like Romney is the only one left standing and his membership in the "Mormon Cult" will allow Odumbo to be re-elected.
"Newt's relationships with Fannie, Freddie and Tiffany!"
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/...
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05...
Newt is really a Leach !
AAC:
"If one assumes that the policies of the previous President remain in effect for (at least) six months, a very interesting picture of unemployment emerges: It's clear that under Bush, unemployment increased from 4.6% to 9.5% (not the 7.3% level at the end of 2008)."
Of course, the real measure is what was it in Jan 2007?
It was 4.4% when the democrats took control of Congress and it just kept going up from there.
It was all democrats allthetime from 2007 to 2011.
And it was really all democrats with obama in the White House from 2009-2011.
What did they really get done, eh?
rocky:
"Newt served divorce papers on his wife while she was almost on her death bed!!"
I believe that his first wife is alive and well and has never been served in the hospital.
That was fabricated by the dems in the 80's and has been debunked since then.
He went with the children to visit her.
Nice try.
Is there a defense for GREED???????????????
NEWTGETTINGRICH