Gingrich commented on the Bloomberg story today, that reported he was paid up to $1.6 million, “to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it.”
Appearing on the Laura Ingraham Show today, Gingrich insisted that he was only hired to “offer strategic advice” to Freddie Mae.
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“I was perfectly happy to work on the question of what do government sponsored enterprises do,” said Gingrich, “There is a long American history of government-sponsored enterprises and I was happy to give them advise on how to present government-sponsored enterprises as a model.” Gingrich added that he gave them advice did no lobbying and did not reach out to Capitol Hill.
“I never dealt with people like Abramoff,” Gingrich added, “As a speaker I had a different role in life, as a former speaker, I am a private citizen and I’m allowed to offer strategic advice.”
Ingraham asked Gingrich if this made him look like a hypocrite after criticizing Rep. Barney Frank or Sen. Chris Dodd for their cozy ties to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.
Gingrich specified that Dodd and Frank were in public office at the time, but he wasn’t in office when took a contract with Freddie Mac.
“If Barney wants to retire tomorrow morning and get a really big contract with someone, more power to him,” said Gingrich, “It’s called free enterprise.”
