It takes one (crook) to know one (crook)
Jack Abramoff accuses Newt
Gingrich of 'corruption.' Really.
Remember Jack Abramoff, the fedora-sporting former lobbyist whose name tends
to be synonymous with a certain type of corruption scandal ??? He accuses Newt
Gingrich of being just that - - "Corrupt" - - in an interview with David Gregory for the
"Meet The Press" webshow "PRESS Pass." In case you don't know or remember
Jack Abramoff, please see thread, Jack Abramoff pleads !!
What did Newt do ???
In about a week, we've gone from Newt Gingrich saying during a debate that he was paid $300,000 to dispense wisdom to Freddie Mac "as a historian" -- to his firm being paid nearly $2 million by the mortgage-financing giant for the former House speaker to provide "strategic advice." There's no telling what added details another week might bring.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KU1md17DKgE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Reporters are now closely examining the Gingrich-Freddie Mac connection. That's largely because of Gingrich's ascent in the GOP presidential preference polls. Scrutiny increases when a candidate surges to the front of the field.
But, according to NPR, it's also because you didn't have to be an award-winning investigative reporter to suspect that Freddie Mac didn't hire Gingrich, the former college professor, to lead history seminars at its headquarters in the Washington suburbs.
Gingrich has said that he didn't lobby for Freddie Mac and sources cited in NPR and Bloomberg News reports confirm that.
But as NPR's Peter Overby reported on Wednesday's All Things Considered, in the nation's capital there's a way of being involved in lobbying without technically being a lobbyist.
"To decipher the Washington Code, "strategic adviser" is the job title of choice for former members of Congress who tell lobbyists what to do but want to avoid the public disclosure required for registered lobbyists.
Ginchrich also gave a phone interview to conservative radio hosts Laura Ingraham. He said he helped Freddie Mac shape its public image as a government-sponsored enterprise."
Abramoff Says Newt Corrupt
In the interview below with David Gregory, Abramoff - who finished a jail stint over a year ago on influence-peddling charges and has been promoting his recently-published book - was asked about the strategic counseling fee of over $1 million that was paid to Newt Gingrich by housing giant Freddie Mac.
"What do you make of all that?" Gregory asked.
Abramoff replied, "This is exactly what I'm talking about. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">People who come to Washington who have public service and they cash in on it. And they use their public service and their access to make money</span>, and unfortunatley <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Newt Gingrich is one of them who have done it</span>. But far too many of them do it and one of the reforms I propose in my book is to close permanently the door, the revolving door, betweeen public service and cashing in as a lobbyist."
He added after another question, "I don't know if he'll survive this, to be honest with you, this is a very big thing."
"Why?" Gregory asked.
"Because he <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">[Abramoff] is doing, and engaging in the exact kind of corruption that America disdains.</span> The very things that anger the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement and everybody who is not in a movement and watches washington and says why are these guys getting all this money, why do they all become so rich, why do they have these advantages? Unfortunately Newt seems to play right into it."
When Gregory pressed on the "corruption" language and noted it's "a heavy charge," Abramoff stayed with it, saying, "Yes it is. It is corruption. At the end of the day, I say in the book, I believe now, although I didn't believe then unfortunatley, that any provision of favor or any provision of anything to members of Congress and their staff is bribery. And any cashing in on it by them coming out later is corruption."
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Jack Abramoff accuses Newt
Gingrich of 'corruption.' Really.
Remember Jack Abramoff, the fedora-sporting former lobbyist whose name tends
to be synonymous with a certain type of corruption scandal ??? He accuses Newt
Gingrich of being just that - - "Corrupt" - - in an interview with David Gregory for the
"Meet The Press" webshow "PRESS Pass." In case you don't know or remember
Jack Abramoff, please see thread, Jack Abramoff pleads !!
What did Newt do ???
In about a week, we've gone from Newt Gingrich saying during a debate that he was paid $300,000 to dispense wisdom to Freddie Mac "as a historian" -- to his firm being paid nearly $2 million by the mortgage-financing giant for the former House speaker to provide "strategic advice." There's no telling what added details another week might bring.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KU1md17DKgE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Reporters are now closely examining the Gingrich-Freddie Mac connection. That's largely because of Gingrich's ascent in the GOP presidential preference polls. Scrutiny increases when a candidate surges to the front of the field.
But, according to NPR, it's also because you didn't have to be an award-winning investigative reporter to suspect that Freddie Mac didn't hire Gingrich, the former college professor, to lead history seminars at its headquarters in the Washington suburbs.
Gingrich has said that he didn't lobby for Freddie Mac and sources cited in NPR and Bloomberg News reports confirm that.
But as NPR's Peter Overby reported on Wednesday's All Things Considered, in the nation's capital there's a way of being involved in lobbying without technically being a lobbyist.
"To decipher the Washington Code, "strategic adviser" is the job title of choice for former members of Congress who tell lobbyists what to do but want to avoid the public disclosure required for registered lobbyists.
Ginchrich also gave a phone interview to conservative radio hosts Laura Ingraham. He said he helped Freddie Mac shape its public image as a government-sponsored enterprise."
Abramoff Says Newt Corrupt
In the interview below with David Gregory, Abramoff - who finished a jail stint over a year ago on influence-peddling charges and has been promoting his recently-published book - was asked about the strategic counseling fee of over $1 million that was paid to Newt Gingrich by housing giant Freddie Mac.
"What do you make of all that?" Gregory asked.
Abramoff replied, "This is exactly what I'm talking about. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">People who come to Washington who have public service and they cash in on it. And they use their public service and their access to make money</span>, and unfortunatley <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Newt Gingrich is one of them who have done it</span>. But far too many of them do it and one of the reforms I propose in my book is to close permanently the door, the revolving door, betweeen public service and cashing in as a lobbyist."
He added after another question, "I don't know if he'll survive this, to be honest with you, this is a very big thing."
"Why?" Gregory asked.
"Because he <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">[Abramoff] is doing, and engaging in the exact kind of corruption that America disdains.</span> The very things that anger the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement and everybody who is not in a movement and watches washington and says why are these guys getting all this money, why do they all become so rich, why do they have these advantages? Unfortunately Newt seems to play right into it."
When Gregory pressed on the "corruption" language and noted it's "a heavy charge," Abramoff stayed with it, saying, "Yes it is. It is corruption. At the end of the day, I say in the book, I believe now, although I didn't believe then unfortunatley, that any provision of favor or any provision of anything to members of Congress and their staff is bribery. And any cashing in on it by them coming out later is corruption."
<param name="FlashVars" value="launch=45329843&width=420&height=245" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed name="msnbc610583" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=45329843&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 420px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">news about the economy</a></p>
