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Lobbying Felon Jack Abramoff Calls Out Newt Gingrich’s Corrupt Freddie Mac Deal

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In an interview for NBC News’  web-only Meet The Press ”Press Pass,” former lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff, now a self-styled reformer, told host David Gregory that surging GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich‘s involvement with Freddie Mac constitutes “corruption,” and said of Gingrich’s presidential bid, “I don’t know if he’ll survive this.”

When “Casino Jack” calls you corrupt, you might have a problem on your hands.

Gingrich, who famously called for the jailing of Rep. Barney Frank over his dealings with Freddie Mac, finds himself at odds with that stance now that it has been revealed that Gingrich’s consulting firm received $1.6 million in fees from the housing agency over the last decade.

Gregory asked Abromoff what he made of the brewing scandal. ” I don’t know if he’ll survive this, to be honest with you, this is a very big thing,” Abramoff told Gregory, adding, “Because he is doing, and engaging in the exact kind of corruption that America disdains.”

“You call that corruption though?” Gregory asked. “That’s a heavy charge.”

“It is corruption,” Abramoff responded. “At the end of the day, I say in the book, I believe now, although I didn’t believe then unfortunately, 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.”

Abramoff also isn’t buying Newt’s explanation. ” I know he says that they paid him as a historian to give him a historic lesson, but, but I’m unaware of any history professor being paid that sort of money to give someone a history lesson.”

Here’s the full interview, from NBC News’ “PRESS Pass”:


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  • Anonymous

    Let me be the first to call Jack a RINO.

  • Anonymous

    The left fears him so they have to smear him..haha…Tommy has become so predicatable.

    What happened to the countless Cain stories Tommy? Is he not threat anymore?? haha…what a joke!!!

    Me bets your boy Oblamer would be soo proud of you…too bad he could care less about you!!

  • Anonymous

    hahaha…is it Rick Santorum’s turn to be the frontrunner yet?

  • joe

    newt says those who participated  freddie and fannie debacle should go to jail–

    i hope he is man enough to turn himself in!

    or is this going to be like Limbaugh who claimed all drug users should go to prison—until he got arrested for buying and using drugs illegally?????
    oh my my—if only the cons could live by their own standards—
    if not for the cons committing illicit acts—we would not have a real problem–with illicit acts!

  • cdnhawk

    Shoot the messenger….very weak CC.

  • Anonymous

    Left do not fear Gingrich, they  hope he wins the Republican nomination to make it an easier path for Obama to have a second term.

  • http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

    Lol!! You know Newt is really in trouble when a person like Jack Abramoff is calling him out!! Lol!!

    Newt complains about “Freddie” while taking $1.6 million from them?? Newt is a fraud!!

  • Anonymous

    Uh huh. Just like ODB Cain, Gov. Goodhair, Donald Chump, and the Alaskan Grifter Bitch. Lots to fear there…

  • Norbit

    All of a sudden, he’s the media darling, working alongside them to attack Republicans, and ensure a second Obama term.

    btw, how’d things go today at the DNC/OWS Shutdown Wall Street rally?

    Does OWS now get their funds only from the Unions, or is the guerilla group Media Matters still involved?

  • Anonymous

    Who wants a Lobbyist for President?  
    Answer the GOP

  • Anonymous

    There goes (K)Nows-Shit- Changing the subject yet again. Without proof. Once again. Typical “conservative” santorum sucking scum deflecting. Yet again.

  • Valkyrie101

    Fear Newt? The main people who will be going after him are conservatives like Bachman. For liberals, all of this republican stuff is not about fear, its more like a comedy.

  • Anonymous

    He’s trying to get his revenge for politicians turning their back on him when he was disgraced.  Politicians who leave government join business boards and many also consult – Daschle has been schilling for corporate interests since almost immediately having left office.   If any of the consulting work involved inappropriate counsel then its a problem – if not its just a job. 

  • Kid Dynamite

    Jackoff is the embodiment of the Republican Party.

  • RW

    If Newt has been out of government since the 90s, what is the corruption in Gingrich’s consulting firm receiving $1.6 million in fees from Freddie Mac over the last decade? 

  • RW

    And you know the liberal MSM is corrupt when they NOW seek out Jack Abramoff’s opinions.

  • Anonymous

    Does Abramoff approve of Obama’s “transparency?”

    Spot the irony in Vice President Biden’s schedule today, from the White House’s daily guidance:

    “At 1:00 PM, the Vice President will attend a meeting of the Government Accountability and Transparency Board in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
    At 2:30 PM, the Vice President will meet with representatives of the National Sheriffs’ Association in the Roosevelt Room.
    These meetings are closed press.”

    (It was only two months ago that State Department officials briefed reporters on transparency efforts but refused to have their names be printed; and in March, the White House postponed a pooled-press ceremony for President Obama to get an openness award — it was later rescheduled and carried out in an undisclosed meeting.)

    http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1111/biden_hidin_e42e6930-e288-47d8-9a86-b6a3cca55b8a.html#

  • Charles Ulysses Feney

    Newt’s Loot

    A presidential candidate named Newt
    Received lots of Freddie Mac loot
    When asked to justfy
    A figure so high
    The auditors said it did not compute!

    Newt says he gave historic perspective
    About lending practices gone defective
    But we have to laugh
    At more than a million and a half
    Being paid for Newt’s political invective.

    It shows you what’s wrong with this nation
    Corrupted by the world banking corporation
    Our rulers get bought
    And no one does squat
    About obscene levels of executive compensation.
    __________________________
    Charles Ulysses Feney

  • Rmilter

    So it does not bother you that he broke hundreds of laws, it only bothers you that he told the truth about Gingrich. That sums up what is wrong with Conservatives. By the way, you are not even close to being the first  to call him a RINO.

  • Rmilter

    So now we fear Gingrich. Remember when we supposedly feared Sarah Palin?? Please tell us, do we still fear her, or is it the Republicans or RINOs who fear her?

  • Rmilter

    Newt said Barney Frank should have to go to jail for his endorsement of Fannie and Freddie, all the while Newt was lobbying for Freddie Mac and being paid millions by them. That is the definition of hypocrisy. Now do you understand? If not it explains a lot….

  • http://twitter.com/grimcity Neal Boyd

    …catfish is doing an “in before ____.” He’s throwing the talking point into the thread before someone who is sincere about it actually does it. Well played, cat!

  • http://twitter.com/grimcity Neal Boyd

    Newt? I fear not.

    Wicked witches who use newts? Again, I remain unafraid!

  • Anonymous

    Its not Republicans or Democrats it is BOTH.  This is the heart of the problem – they are all getting rich ‘representing us’ problem is we are not the ones paying them.  It is special interests on both sides.  The reason they pay our ‘representatives’ is so that they can be ‘awarded’ our money vis-a-vis pork and corruption.

    Take the money out of politics or nothing will change.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U7T5LVIQK7AMIBM5WI765VDVDQ smald4lib

    Both parties are bought and paid for. That’s why those people are in the streets. We need to reel in the money being spent to elect and buy our so called representatives and playing party politcs, sniping at each other, is called conquer and divide. It plays right into the 1% hands when politcs of left and right are dividing people, not uniting people to fix our broken democracy.

    The politcs of less government means nothing to people who have no jobs. There is no history of any libertarian government in modern times that is successful economically. Our country was built on protectionism and tariffs, and so other countries, like China and Japan are only using our blue print to build theirs. That’s not libertarian politcs, it’s government and the privated sector working together.

  • http://twitter.com/TommyBennett Tom Bennett

    You’re a reactionary wonk, huh? This is about Gingrich.

  • http://twitter.com/TommyBennett Tom Bennett

    This is again, off topic, numb nuts.

  • RW

    Newt said Barney Frank should go to jail because he protected Fannie and Freddie all the while Fannie and Freddie were involved in bad business practices.  As a Democrat beholding to Fannie and Freddie, Frank is corrupt.

    Who was Newt lobbying?  Unless Newt lobbied poiticians with a quid pro quo, what is the corruption?

  • Anonymous

    http://www.getmoneyout.com/

    Why not sign this and pass it around to everyone you know.

  • Anonymous

    Oh my I hope not!

  • Anonymous
  • Chauncy Gardner

    He’ll be done with “frontrunner status” by Monday. Newt is a top level political whore. Bought and paid for many times over. Need a favorable opinion on either side of any topic? Write Newtie a check. Wifey needs more bling!

  • Anonymous

    The correct phrase is “couldn’t” care less, not “could” care less. Careless language signifies careless thought, but perhaps you couldn’t care less.

  • Anonymous

    Gingrich will never be elected because, frankly, he’s fat and ugly to a lot of people, and he’s got a trace of asshole in his demeanor, like a trace of shit on a piece of toilet paper.

  • Anonymous

    “Blunt language cannot hide a banal conception” (James Wolcott)

    Also, what bumsrush said.

  • Anonymous

    I wrote a list somewhere of all the people we supposedly feared. I know I missed a few.
    I had every current Republican candidate but Santorum (the joke), plus a few who almost ran, plus Christine O’Donnell and Sharon Angle. Glenn Beck was in the list. Who am I missing?

  • Anonymous

    Yes, but Gloves is transparently oblivious.

  • Anonymous

    Much as I would like to attack Newt, I’m wondering how hypocrisy becomes corruption in legal terms. Corrupt soul? No doubt about it. Legally corrupt? Not so sure. 

  • Anonymous

    But it is his turn. Just ask him. He will confirm.

  • Anonymous

    So he’s a liar and a felon unless he says something you like? I tend to think people are who they are. If you are a liar and a felon… you are… I don’t know… I liar and a felon.

  • Anonymous

    Ya… I never see THAT around here…..

  • Mythominhtran

    American folks are no longer dumb!

  • http://twitter.com/grimcity Neal Boyd

    Michael Savage… or at least his radio persona.

  • Porphyry

    And a commie named Tommy convicted him, No “alleged,” no quotation marks.

    “And no one does squat
    About obscene levels of executive compensation.”

    Except that Congress just started hassling Fannie/Mac about *their* bosses’ bonuses! It’s the same defense: we need the $$$ to keep “talent.” OK, either it holds for both private & public sectors or for neither.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t know about him. Not running for office or selling gold, is he?

  • Anonymous

    So the fact that he’s now advocating policy that directly conflicts with what had been his life’s work is not an indication of any change of heart? 

    I’m surprised you’re not a bit more supportive of Abramoff.  Aren’t you libertarian?  It seems to me that what he’s suggesting is in keeping with the desire to keep the market free.

  • http://twitter.com/grimcity Neal Boyd

    Not for office, but he’s been pushing gold for years. Savage was the one who got kicked off of cable for this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAA2KxgqVvk

  • Anonymous

    I am a libertarian. But he comes off like a tool who is pimping the only angle he has left to keep him in the game.

  • Anonymous

    That’s nearly as cynical as saying that a former drug user who is providing drug rehab “is pimping the only angle he has left to keep him in the game.” 

  • Anonymous

    I guess it’s how the guy comes off to me. I’ve seen lots of ex-cons and ex-users turn their life around. If they chose to do that by helping others kick a habit… good for them. As for Jack… I’m making a judgement call and it is only my opinion. He just doesn’t come off sincere to me.

  • RedOnTheGreg

    Sure, he’s a crook, and a convict, so naturally they want to pretend he’s not one of those Law Abiding Republicans. The truth is, there.s no such thing.

  • Anonymous

    So…. Newt was already out of Congress, acting as a private citizen, did NO LOBBYING, and provided strategic advice to a company that came to his firm for it?   The only scandal here is David Gregory NOT going after Abramhoff for accusing Gingrich of doing something wrong.   Are all the employees of Freddie Mac criminals?   Just another sorry attempt by the media to bring down Newt.

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