Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich now has a powerful response to his opponent Mitt Romney’s allegation that he received $1.6 million for lobbying on behalf government mortgage agency Freddie Mac.
That response consists of the information in former Massachusetts Gov. Romney’s tax returns that he has investments worth up to $500,000 in Freddie Mac and its sister mortgage agency, Fannie Mae.
Romney opened Monday’s debate blasting the former House speaker as an influence peddler for his work at Freddie Mac, an agency many experts believe played a role in the housing meltdown. But now Gingrich has material for a counterattack in the next debate,
The Hill reports.
“We didn’t learn that until we left the debate last night,” Gingrich told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday. “I probably would have gotten in a good zinger on that.”
Gingrich also told a Fox News affiliate on Tuesday how he would have responded if he had known the information before the debate. “I would have said, ‘Mitt, you’re a stockholder. You’re getting richer off of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,’” Gingrich said.
He says he offered consulting help, much of it historical, to Freddie Mac rather than lobbying assistance. And on Tuesday, Gingrich hit Romney for his own consulting work. “Romney has not released any contracts of any kind regarding any consulting that he did,” he said.
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