Tonight on AC360: Gingrich faces questions about Freddie Mac
Editor's note: Anderson will talk to Ari Fleischer and Hilary Rosen about Newt Gingrich's business with Freddie Mac. Watch AC360° at 8 p.m. ET.
(CNN) – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spent a second day trying to campaign in Iowa but fending off questions about his relationship with mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
The former House Speaker has surged to the top of Republican presidential polls over the last month but is now forced to play defense against reports of his relationship with Freddie Mac. Gingrich Group was paid between $1.6 million and $1.8 million to lobby Republicans in Congress on behalf of the government-backed mortgage lender, CNN has confirmed.
Questioned about the reports on Wednesday in Urbandale, Gingrich said that his consulting company was paid by Freddie Mac for "strategic advice over a long period of time."
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Filed under: 2012 Election • Newt Gingrich |
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How much advice did Newt give to these banks and how much did he know their actions were leading to a housing debacle? Is he guilty of bad judgment? Am not saying he was simply in it for the money, but I am sure he did not throw the money way. No wonder he gets a long welcome mat at Tiffany's.
Can we all just agree on what is obvious?
Gingrich was not paid 1.6 million dollars for his perspective on history.That's simply a lie.
He was not paid to offer "strategic advice", whatever that means.
He was paid to be a face for Freddie Mac, to represent Freddie Mac to members of Congress who would not otherwise be sympathetic to the corporation. Maybe we can invent a new phrase like the above coined "strategic advice" to describe what was obviously an arrangement whereby Gingrich was paid to represent the views of Freddie Mac to conservative members of Congress.
By the way, I fully understand, knowing now that Freddie Mac wasted 1.6 million dollars on Newt Gingrich, why this entity is flat broke.
Exactly why the lobby door should and must be shut. Money corrupts and they don't call it Capital Hill for nothing.