Gingrich welcomes "insider" label as he deflects Freddie Mac questions

Updated at 4:30 p.m. ET

Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich on Wednesday fended off questions about the hefty sums he received to give advice to mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac, insisting that he warned the company of its risky practices ahead of the 2008 financial crisis.

Moreover, the candidate says he isn't worried his association with the now government-controlled firm makes him look like a Washington "insider" -- if anything, he said Wednesday on CBS News radio, he embraces the label.

"There's no question when you serve 20 years in the House and as speaker of the House for four years, you know a fair amount about Washington," Gingrich told CBS News radio correspondent Dan Raviv. "We just tried an amateur for the last three years, and it didn't work very well... The country would be better off with someone determined to change Washington and who knows how to do it."

As Gingrich climbs in the polls just about two months ahead of the first presidential nominating contest, voters are taking a second look at the candidate known for bringing the House under Republican control in 1994. The former speaker came under new scrutiny today for the experience he gained after leaving Congress, when he served as a consultant for Freddie Mac -- a company that Gingrich and most other Republicans regularly criticize for contributing to the mortgage crisis of 2008. Its former public-private status is also held up as a symbol of poor government management.

On CBS' "The Early Show" this morning, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann took a shot at Gingrich for taking money from a firm at "the epicenter of the financial meltdown." Later on the campaign trail in Iowa, she blasted Gingrich for "shilling" for Freddie Mac. "While he was taking that money I was fighting against Fannie and Freddie," she said.

According to a Bloomberg report, Freddie Mac paid Gingrich between $1.6 million and $1.8 million, between 1999 and 2008. The total is more than five times the figure Gingrich had previously acknowledged. A former Freddie Mac official told the Associated Press that Gingrich's fees totaled at least $1.5 million.

At an economic debate hosted by CNBC last week, Gingrich was asked about his work for Freddie Mac, and the moderator said Gingrich's firm was paid $300,000. Gingrich gave no indication he was paid any more than that, and he said he earned by the money by offering advice as a historian. Gingrich said he told the mortgage company that their lending practices were "insane."

The Drive: Desperately seeking the anti-Romney
Bachmann: Gingrich of "shilling" for Freddie Mac

At that debate, Gingrich continued on to say that he was proven right about the firm, which has taken more than $70 billion from taxpayers since the Bush administration seized it in 2008 amid mounting losses from mortgages gone bad.

"And I think it's a good case for breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and getting much smaller institutions back into the private sector to be competitive and to be responsible for their behavior," Gingrich said at the CNBC debate.

On Wednesday with CBS News radio, Gingrich said he did not oppose the hybrid structure that allowed the private firms access to cheap credit with the implicit backing that if anything went wrong, Uncle Sam would step in.

"Government sponsored enterprises can have a positive role to play," Gingrich said, using the Washington jargon applied to Freddie Mac and sister firm Fannie Mae, which were chartered by Congress but ran as private sector firms before being put under total government control in 2008. That public-private status is at the heart of much of the criticism of the two firms.

Gingrich also told CBS that "towards the end I told them... there was clearly going to be a bubble. You couldn't possibly make the kinds of loans people were making without the whole thing crashing."

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He insisted that he doesn't think his association with the company will hurt his standing with Republican voters because "I did no lobbying and I am not going to defend any kind of bad business practices."

Gingrich added that he doesn't condemn government-sponsored entities as a business model.

Bloomberg reported that part of Gingrich's mission was to develop an argument to persuade conservatives to back the company's then public-private structure. On CBS News Radio today, Gingrich emphasized that he did no direct lobbying for the company.

"What I did was I advised, said look, these are the kinds of questions that are being asked and these are the things you need to be able to answer," he said.

In Urbandale, Iowa this morning, Gingrich said he didn't dispute the $300,000 figure cited at the CNBC debate because it didn't occur to him, the Des Moines Register reports.

"First of all it wasn't paid to me. Gingrich Group was a consulting firm that had lots of people doing things and we offered strategic advice," Gingrich said.

Gingrich told CBS News Radio that his business experience "proved that i know how to operate in the free market." But on top of that, he added, "I am the only candidate running on the Republican side who's actually had real responsibility in Washington," like balancing a federal budget and reforming welfare.

The Gingrich campaign later on Wednesday released a fact sheet pushing back against any criticism that may come from his work for Freddie Mac. The fact sheet largely made the points Gingrich has made in interviews today, confirming that the former speaker never engaged in lobbying for the company, and that he still supports government-sponsored enterprises.

"Newt Gingrich welcomes scrutiny of his record in public office and as a small businessman," the fact sheet says. "Newt believes that properly vetting the potential next president is absolutely necessary in a free society and that a properly vetted nominee for the Republican Party will better be able to defeat President Obama and lead our country in rebuilding the America we love."

With little time left to leverage his new momentum before the January 3 Iowa caucuses, Gingrich is now hitting the campaign trail hard. He travels to Florida on Thursday, followed by a stop in Harvard University, and then returns to Iowa over the weekend.

31 Photos

Newt Gingrich on the campaign trail

[Samlv]

He's got a better shot at Obama than a Mormonocrat.

I think we should just turn the process into a game show, where we get to call in an vote people off the stage.

[thomasmc1957]

Gingrich is clearly part of the problem, NOT the solution!

[P0ST1ING_AWAY]

by doneinone November 17, 2011 6:21 AM EST
Now that Newt is leading the pack I see the smear has started.

The fact of the matter is Newt is a brilliant man. He would crush Obama in a debate. Newt is has written 23 books, not all books written about himself I might add.
=========================================================
Let's see DOOFUS ...

First it was Palin .... YAH!!! PALIN !!!
Well ... THAT did not work ....

Perry ... YAH !!! PERRY !!!
Well ... THAT did not work ....

Cain ... YAH !!! CAIN !!!
Well ... THAT did not work ....

Gingrich ... YAH !!! GINGRICH !!!
Well ... THAT IS NOT WORKING ....

[karek40]

Wonder if everyone who has been paid as a guest speaker at Penn State will come under fire for being paid due to the scandal, are all those who worked for GM coming under fire for being paid and GM received a bail out? Guess I fail to see the difference. You work for a company you get paid, they do wrong and unless you are directly involved in the wrong doing you should not come under fire. Smoke and mirrors.

[P0ST1ING_AWAY]

You sound like a true friend of the Tea-Bagger-Bozo
movement.

[Martha12345]

Newt's involvement in Barney's organization puts him at the bottom of the barrel. He's just another politician.

[bigsk8fan]

hey newt, can you spell HYPOCRITE?
what you said: R E P U B L I C A N !!!

[RobAla]

What seems to be lost in this is that it was Freddy Mac that gave public tax funded dollars to Gingrich. The same irresponsible Freddy Mac that took $billions in bailout and still wants to give boatloads in bonuses to Freddy Mac executives. Why isn't the attention on Freddy Mac?

If Gingrich contracted with Freddy Mac to give them advice for a certain amount of money, this was simply payment for work done. It is not his fault that Freddy Mac didn't act upon his advice. If executives within Freddy Mac are given boatloads as bonuses (using tax payer bailout dollars), when these executives have irresponsibly driven Freddy Mac into the RED - this is entirely another matter. Maybe these Freddy Mac executives should have taken Gingrich's advice.

The problem is with Freddy Mac - not Gingrich.

[doneinone]

Now that Newt is leading the pack I see the smear has started.

The fact of the matter is Newt is a brilliant man. He would crush Obama in a debate. Newt is has written 23 books, not all books written about himself I might add.

[thechooch1]

doneinone yeah, and he has cheated on almost as many wives as he has written books too.

[luadda22]

ruffiannd, well it worked for Obama and he had only written (up for debate) 2.

[greco99-2009]

Look at how Newt treated his ex-wife (wives), that is how he will treat his GOP base.

Newt cheated on one wife while she had cancer. Not once but again and again and again.

Then he cheated on the next wife. Not once but again and again, and with a young staffer.

This went on for years, lying all the time to his own wife.

If he tells years of lies to his wife (wives) what is this slimebag's word worth?

Newt is a pathological liar - he will sit there are grin even while he knows he is lying and will be caught.

I bet he sat there and grinned at his wife (wives) while lying to then and cheating year after year...

Look at the way he grins and lies during interviews and debates. And, sits there grinning...probably just like he did when he was lying to his wife (wives)...that is Newt...He just does not care if he is caught...a true pathological liar.

He will scam money from the GOP base, and treat them no better than he treated his ex-wife(wives). He will spend the cash on more wedding rings, and more 500 dollar dinners the 'ambassador' class suite on some tacky cruise.

Then there were the 84 ethics and corruption charges (that were dropped when he left congress in disgrace)...

Why would anyone believe or trust Newt with leadership (oh yeah, just because he is not Romney the Robot...great reason).

[greco99-2009]

The GOP base has gotten whiplash from so many shifts from one bad candidate to another.

Imagine one at work you tell every one about Perry, then the next week it's Cain, then the next week Gingrich. All of these fundamentally flawed candidates who have ultimately mocked and made fools of their base.

This is doing long term harm to GOP credibility.

[greco99-2009]

Not that Romney the Robot is much better - look at the W. Spann 'donation' that has already come onto the radar for possible criminal prosecution.

Republicans (and democrats) need to clean house. We need candidates who are actually against corruption - not just claiming to be slightly less corrupt than the others.

If Newt could have scammed 16 or 160 million dollars here - who thinks he would not have done so?

[mamasaid1]

There are only two types of Republicans, those who manipulate, and those who like to be manipulated.