In last Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, Gingrich sought to explain his role at Freddie Mac as that of an “historian” sounding dire warnings about the company’s future. He said Freddie Mac officials told him “we are now making loans to people that have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do.” He said his advice was to tell them, “this is insane.”

“I said at the time, this is a bubble … this is impossible. It turned out unfortunately I was right,” Gingrich said.

AP-

URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) — Rising in national polls, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich found himself on the defensive Wednesday over huge payments he received over the past decade from the federally backed housing agency Freddie Mac.

Gingrich said he didn’t remember exactly how much he was paid, but a former Freddie Mac official said it was at least $1.5 million for consulting contracts stretching from 1999 to 2007. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.

[ASSOCIATED PRESS]

Comments

comments