Is Gingrich Lying Over Freddie Mac Involvement?

Ya gotta give credit to Newt Gingrich. At least he's consistent in his colossal hypocrisy. Back in the '90s while he was crucifying Bill Clinton over the former president's sexual escapades with Monica Lewinsky, the then-House Speaker was simultaneously cheating on his wife. And now we learn from a Bloomberg News article, which cites former Freddie Mac officials, that while Gingrich was excoriating President Obama, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Democrats for their supposed roles in the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae housing and financial crisis he knew that he had earned upwards of $1.8-million on Freddie's payroll to lobby their cause to his influential Republican pals on Capitol Hill.

On the hot seat after soaring recently in the polls, Gingrich's defense of his actions is lame at best and unethical and duplicitous at worst. At a GOP debate last week he claimed to have made only $300,000 from the relationship and that he was paid as a "historian," giving the federally-backed home mortgage company "advice on precisely what they didn't do," which was to stop giving high-risk loans to borrowers with no or poor credit history. He later expanded his role to "strategic adviser."

"First of all, it wasn't paid to me," he said this week. "Gingrich Group was a consulting firm that had lots of people doing things and we offered strategic advice." So, we're supposed to accept on face value that Gingrich does not personally profit from Gingrich Group revenue? Furthermore, the Freddie officials confirmed to Bloomberg that he never warned of a housing bubble and offered no criticism of the business model.

According to the Associated Press, Gingrich's work with Freddie Mac started in 1999 after being brought in by the company's top lobbyist, Mitchell Delk, to consult on legislative and regulatory issues, the company said at the time. He was paid approximately $30,000 a month into 2002. Freddie brought him back again four years later at $300,000 annually to help defend against attacks from conservatives.

So Gingrich appears to be lying, which is clearly such a pattern for him that it consistently and ultimately brings him down, as it is certain to do again now.

Back in 2008 Gingrich aggressively challenged Obama to distance himself from Freddie and Fannie by returning all campaign contributions. And at the recent debate, he arrogantly charged that those responsible for the housing crisis should be put in jail: "You ought to start with Barney Frank. Go back and look at the lobbyists he was close to at Freddie Mac." Perhaps what's good for the goose is good for the Gingrich...

 

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Comments

[Scurvydog74]

11:17 PM on 11/18/2011

Elect this man president and hang a "For Sale - Best Offer" sign around his neck. It's scary to think that America could actually be one election away from being auctioned off.

[rtx47]

08:54 PM on 11/18/2011

At a GOP debate last week he claimed to have made only $300,000 from the relationship and that he was paid as a "historian," giving the federally-backed home mortgage company "advice on precisely what they didn't do," which was to stop giving high-risk loans to borrowers with no or poor credit history. He later expanded his role to "strategic adviser."
-------------

Paying 1.8 million to Gingrich was not to buy his expertise as a "historian"; but rather to buy his silence (as a Speaker of the House) on the waste of tax-payer's money.

By Gingrich's own admission, he was aware of that criminal waste by Freddy and Fanny; and did not stop it. Was Gingrich (and others) co-conspirators in the crime to defraud the American tax-payer?

[Carl Caroli]

03:49 PM on 11/18/2011

Newt will get caught in his own web, again.

[koos458]

02:25 PM on 11/18/2011

Name a politician who ISN'T lying about what they do for the money they get.

[jerdan25]

12:59 PM on 11/18/2011

Liars, cheat and thieves...all of them, don't believe anything that comes out of their mouths, this world is upside down, no one cares about the truth anymore, spewing lies to make money. Jeez, what a wonderful world to leave to our grandchildren...

[jhNY]

12:17 PM on 11/18/2011

Newt Gingrich says and does what he believes is good for Gingrich. If occasionally that causes him to utter truth, he can live with it, since so much of the time, he lies unblinkingly, and as he has learned to live happily and well within an atmosphere near-constant prevarication, occasional honesty is just the price he occasionally pays for being Newt.

[DevonTexas]

10:59 AM on 11/18/2011

"Is Gingrich Lying Over Freddie Mac Involvement?"

Are his lips moving? Even if they aren't, consider the source. GingRICH couldn't tell the truth if he tried.

[jbon911647]

10:35 AM on 11/18/2011

Let me make this simple so you Statists can understand..................NOPE.

[tacevad]

08:00 AM on 11/18/2011

the gingrich test for lying: he opens his mouth and sound comes out

[damico605]

07:46 AM on 11/18/2011

The other day Chris Mathews said Gingrich isn't a human being, he's a " gaseous emmision". Hilarious!

[jbon911647]

10:37 AM on 11/18/2011

How can a drunken frump call the former Speaker of the House anything.
What has Chris done for America?

[jhNY]

12:19 PM on 11/18/2011

Alerted viewers early on to the bogus intel behind the elective occupation of Iraq.

Your name calling reflects more on you than the object of your derision-- unless you have proof as to his alcoholism. Do you?

[CBryant]

07:45 AM on 11/18/2011

Is Gingrich lying? If his lips are moving it's probably a safe bet that he is lying.

[WBMD]

05:38 AM on 11/18/2011

Wait a minute! The man had to make a living. He is not an engineer or physician. He has ideas, advice and concepts to sell.

The question is what ideas did Newt Gingrich, in the context of working through his consulting firm, sell, and to whom did he sell them?

That should be easy to find out if those responsible agree to make public the records and paper trail.

[jbon911647]

10:39 AM on 11/18/2011

And he has explained it in detail already.
Check it.

[Scurvydog74]

11:25 PM on 11/18/2011

Was he selling ideas or was he selling integrity? If he was employed by Freddie then as any good righty corporatist he was obligated and expected to put his employer's interests above his own. That means his role was to convince other righty corporatist republican toads to keep their sticky hands off Freddie. It was HIS piece of pie. Ideological purity for sale. "I"ll gladly support anything for a price."

[WBMD]

06:35 AM on 11/19/2011

You have no idea. He may well have been advising them of the folly of their ways, and the potential catastrophe approaching. They may have ignored his advice. Why don't you dig for the truth rather than let your ideology blind you?

[Jeaniegirl]

05:11 AM on 11/18/2011

Unfathful to each of his previous wives, unfaithful to his constituents, unfaithful to his country, and ultimately unfaithful to himself. Not very presidential, is he?

[jbon911647]

10:40 AM on 11/18/2011

What about Clinton? Was he Presidential?

[demisfine]

11:54 AM on 11/18/2011

I've read a string of your posts.
You are deft at dodging and deflecting, but offer no substantive defense of Mr. Gingrich's behavior.
I'll not waste my time on any more of your posts.

[RobertHenryEller]

03:02 AM on 11/18/2011

Gingrich claimed that the two week luxury cruise he and his wife took in the Mediterranean was an opportunity to gain valuable insight into the Greek financial crisis.

Is there something else you need to know about Newt's honesty and credibility?

[jkbc8484]

01:32 AM on 11/18/2011

I resent the fact that our politicians can be influenced by the lobbyists. Corruption, sadness, apathy.