a former official at freddie mac told us that gingrich was consulted about freddie mac's efforts to becomearent about risk and capital management and how the efforts would be received by republicans in congress. this person said gingrich was also consulted at one point about the company's efforts to bond with the bush administration, bringing more minorities into homeownership, this at a time when republicans overall were really against the whole idea of having a fannie and freddie there. again, important work and important work as far as the political implications with republicans. technically, not physically lobbying for them. >> who els was freddie mac paying? fannie mae paying for that matter even as both of those operations are in serious financial trouble? lisa sylvester is here with that part of the story giving us a little bit more perspective. >> that's right, wolf. newt gingrich has spoken out blaming fannie mae and freddie mac for contributing to the housing crisis. he has received more than $1.5 million from freddie mac. it turns out he was not the only congressional lawmaker w

i am haldeman and i am ceo of freddie mac. i joined freddie mac in august of 2009. almost a year after the company was placed into conservatorship by the federal housing finance agency. i welcome the opportunity to be here today to address your questions and concerns about compensation for our executive team. let me begin by saying i understand why this hearing is necessary. i understand why the american people are outraged about executive compensation in general. i understand totally why congress and the american people are outraged about executive compensation at companies that have received federal support including fannie and freddie. we have 9% unemployment in our country and there are millions of families at risk of losing their homes. i understand the outrage. how then do a reconcile the compensation system at freddie mac given the suffering that so many families a living with? let me see if i can explain the dilemma i face. my number one objective taking the job in the summer of 2009 was to keep the company functioning. i concluded that there would be more f

that is the kind of thing, abuse that has gone on at freddie and fannie for years.'t stopped post-conservatorship. >> bret: both firms have drawn $170 billion from the taxpayers since conservatorship since 2008. they're requesting $13 billion to $14 billion. what the hope of getting one to stop, the executive compensation. is there a hope? >> they are both negative and chances over a decade or more they would be able to pay true interest on more than $200 billion they will owe by the time they stop bleeding red ink. if we are lucky, we could see solvent mortgage market and one we don't have to continue funding. $13 billion this quarter of new money. they don't know what to do with the homes they're unwilling to sell or rent. they were proud they rented 10,000 homes out of 1 million in foreclosure. as though that was a success. if you can have the conservator to pay to supervisor them maybe you can run them better than bonus. >> we asked them to come back and tell them what impediments were to do their job faster or get the homes back to compliance or liquidated. the

gingrich says he acted as an advisor to freddie mack, but never lobbied lawmakers on freddie mac's baffle. >> advice over long period of time. someone aimed at how to you explain what you're doing? i did no lobby of any kind. >> critics accuse gingrich of political hypocrisy. but taking money from freddie mac as a private citizen and then blaming freddie mac for causing the housing crisis, when he was a presidential candidate. others accuse gingrich of using his political experience, namely four years as speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, to cash in. so says washington examiner columnist tim carney. >> are you prepared to live by your statement there. >> absolutely. and newt's statement that he never did lobbying doesn't hold up to any normal definition of the world lobby. i've been talk to republican hill staffers who were will in 2003 which while newell was being paid by drug companies, saying he was rallying rubs republicans to vote for the bill they supported some he didn't register as a lobbyist but what he did was lobbying. and he was lobbying for corporate welfare. and f

>> i love freddie. anybody who said to me i was losing in a fight in miami, and you aren't doing too good and about even. the other guy was beating me a little bit. i went back to the corner. my hometown. and freddie goes like this, you want to go back to acting? and i said, no. and he goes like this. boom. then you get in there and knock him out. tavis: pretty good. >> freddie is great. legendary. and great fighter. passed away. give my condolences to marvis and his family. smoking joe. a legend. yeah. i like joe. he was a piece of work. tavis: so to your point now, the point you made a moment ago about freddie asking whether you wanted to go back to acting. so this is it for you the rest of your life. you're comfortable now in this space, this acting space? >> yes. yes. tavis: this is it? >> i feel very blessed that i've had the opportunity to come back and do this again. i mean, in any line of work, no matter what you do, anywhere, s cech.ec . d even with sports you don't get a secd chance. up, you g

looks like freddie needs another infusion of about $6 billion. what i found troubling about that is that they lost $6 billion in the previous quart, but a year ago, they lost 4.1, and with the amount of origination, you'd expected their earnings to start showing improvements. i found that troubling. i'll assume that you do as well. >> i certainly do, congressman. i would say that a portion of these -- so the break down briefly -- there's three key contributions to this. one is an additional increment of credit losses that's continuing to reflect both the preconservativeship book of business and difficulty certain housing markets are having in stabilizing. it also reflects losings -- losses due to hedging the financial risk of their retained portfolio and $1.6 billion of that is the dividend owed to the treasury department. >> recently, september 30th, the loan limits temporary increase expired, and so the new loan limits are in place. have you -- has anybody done analysis of how much that would affect overall origination to the gses for that to m

fanny and freddie own half of all mortgages. taxpayers had to bail out both companies and wyatt andrews tell us that's why executives were feeling the heat on capitol hill. >> reporter: if anything could draw bipartisan anger in congress, this was it. huge paychecks and bonuses for top executives at fannie mae and freddie mac when those two agencies combined have cost taxpayers $169 billion with the losses still mounting. the two c.e.o.s who faced the heat, fannie's michael williams and freddie's charles haldeman, earned $9.3 million and $7.8 million over two years, which gives them, republican darrell issa said, the best taxpayer- financed jobs ever. >> you made $9.3 million in the last two years. while, the president made $800,000. you think that's okay? >> reporter: democrats railed that those million-dollar payouts could have helped more americans keep their homes. congressman adolfus towns: >> then you look at these salaries and one would say, wait a minute. why don't we take this salary and save a whole block? >> reporter:

freddie mac is requesting another $6 billion.k at today's hearing, the man who oversees fannie and freddie insisted they're doing the best they can. edward demarco is acting director of the federal housing finance agency. >> we're trying to strike a difficult balance between ensuring that these multi- trillion dollar companies have the appropriate expertise running them and that we're keeping these salaries as low as possible while ensuring that we've got capable people and that the people that are there from the c.e.o.s on down are focused on helping homeowners. >> reporter: amid the bonus firestorm, republican presidential candidate newt gingrich acknowledged today his consulting firm was paid up to $1.8 million by freddie mac. >> i provided strategic advice to many large companies. i can't verify to you a specific amount right now. we're going to check and find out. >> reporter: meanwhile whatever fannie and freddie now face a move in congress to block executive bonuses and limit pay to government pay scales. bills are pending

freddie knows that. >> do you agree with that, freddie?ing is, he wants that zero on his record so he can makes statements like i'm better than sugar ray robinson because robinson has losses and i don't. but after manny pacquiao knocks him out he doesn't have that argument anymore and can't say he's the best ever. i think he's more in love with that idea than in love with $100 million to fight manny pacquiao, because that's what they're going to make about. >> and in truth, tomorrow night marquez has greater danger for manny than floyd mayweather would ever have. marquez has a style which gives manny problems, which hopefully freddie and manny have worked out a way to solve that puzzle. >> manny, what do you think of floyd mayweather as a man? because you couldn't be more different. you're humble, you're polite, you're sincere. he likes to trash talk. he's not remotely humble. you're very, very different people. >> i think that's his attitude, you know, attitude as a man, but you cannot believe him. that's his style. my style is, you know

next up, fannie and freddie and those big executive bonuses.lasts up to 16 hours? with thermacare heatwraps. that's 8 hours while you wear it, plus an additional 8 hours of relief after you take it off. can your patch say that? for up to 16 hours of relief... try thermacare. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. >>> i'm mystified as to why the so-called achievements should entitle executives to million-dollar bonuses. and they either have nothing to do with the actions of fannie and freddie, or they appear to reward a continuing downward spiral in our housing market. >> i am trying to encourage the people to stay and continue to mitigate losses, and keep the current infrastructure of the country's finance system operating. >> bret: an interesting hearing today on capitol hill. we heard from chairman issa earlier talking about the fannie and freddie receiving bonuses, despite both mortgage lenders are asking for billions in taxpayer money

breaking up fannie mae and freddie mac. >> reporter: gingrich says fannie and freddie made so many bads tied to the financial meltdown that democrats who took donations from the companies should face prison. >> you ought to start with barney frank and chris dodd and let's look at the politicians who created the environment, the politicians who profited from the environment and the politicians who put this country in trouble. >> reporter: but it turns out gingrich himself was on the freddie mac payroll in the years leading up to the meltdown. from 1999 shortly after gingrich resigned as speaker into 2008, the year of the meltdown, gingrich and his consulting firm earned at least $1.6 million in freddie mac fees. when first asked what he did for freddie, he described his role as a historian and claimed he had advised the company to stop the risky loans. >> i offered them advise on precisely what they didn't do. i said to them at the time this is a bubble. this is insane. >> reporter: but two sources with knowledge of gingrich's contracts said he was hired for his inside knowledge of cong

as i'm being told, freddie mac lost another $6 billion last quarter. you know, we are basically suffering through, you know, sins of the past but sins of not pricing risk. um, the other thing i do want to stand here and make it clear, um, i understand this is a draft bill. there's a lot of things in here i am excited about, there's a lot of things i'm hoping as we hear testimony we'll ferret out and work through the details and the mechanics. but the number of folks who have come to my office, mr. chairman, and talked about the risk retention particularly in asset-backed, you know, credit cards, automobiles, all these other things, and many of those markets actually have held up surprisingly well. maybe we should not be going where we're going. are we going to, ultimately, do more damage to the economy and the ability to finance our pooch in the and with that, mr. chairman, i yield back my time. >> gentleman yields back. mr. peters for two minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing. i think we all agree that the american housing mark

>> i know we have how many mortgages freddie mae and freddie mac have originated in the particular markets that were affected by the change in the loan limit. i am afraid i do not have that with me. i could easily provide it. it is not a huge number. but we can get that for you. >> in texas, it is a relatively strong -- a relatively small number. >> relative to their book, it is a small number. >> the question is, and mr. scott has a great proposal of bringing some certainty to the market, but will be the incentive in the private market to have originated any thing in the current space that the gsc's are allowed to operate? and what would be incentive for the private market to let the federal taxpayers guarantee that? >> is pretty hard to compete with the federal government and the degree of support that is being provided right now. >> if you're going to get the private sector back into markets, you're going to have to create some space for them to operate. there is no incentive below 625 for the private sector. >> is hard to compete with the government guarantee. as long as there is a wid

the general counsels of freddie mac received $2.9 million, and freddie mae -- and fannie mae received $2.6 million, much more than the general counsel believes is fair. >> because the theme of the hearing is regarding protecting the american taxpayer, with regard to the legal departments of fannie mae and freddie mac, i would like to point out to the committee that fannie mae was fhfa taking a lead on this as conservative. there have been lawsuits that we believed would recover liability. this is to carry out responsibly are conservatorship. for us to be successfully executing on such complex litigation on such complex financial transactions and securities, i need to have qualified and experienced counsel to be working with us on that. i believe this is an investment that we are making that is part of protecting the american taxpayer. these are the sorts of things that if we fundamentally and radically and immediately change the rules of the game with respect to how we perceive fannie and freddie, we may gain compensation, but i would like the committee to note that from my perspectiv

mae or freddie mac. excuse me and fannie mae are really kind of the best examples of government sponsored enterprises so what are these exactly they're better known as g s e's they are privately held corporations with public purposes created by the u.s. congress to reduce the cost of capital first certain borrowing sectors of the economy members of these sectors include students farmers and homeowners so let's look at the case of fannie and freddie because this has to deal with homeowners and i want to bring up some of the major bullet points so fannie mae was created during the depression as part of the new deal freddie mac. came a little bit later why were they created they were an attempt to raise levels of homeownership and the availability of affordable housing and in the ninety's i just want to remind you under george h.w. bush and the clinton administration's they for the first time had affordable housing goals and pressure to expand loans for low to middle income borrowers so that's kind of the c

freddie mac, he's a liar.a hypocrite, and i think he's done with the tea party. >> yeah. join the powers that are attacking freddie mac and get paid to defend them. what an unbelievable washington game and now he's been caught. the price of front-runnership, newt. >> exactly. >> thank you joan walsh. had to have you two here. you two are the best at understanding washington. thank you david corn and joan. from herman cain's brain freeze, a thighs word to it, to rick perry's oops last week, to michele bachmann on just about everything she tries to handle, how many blunders can a political party stand and still stand up? and how damaging to the republican brand name are endless gaffes on everything from the important to the hopeless? you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout.

freddie mac, he's a liar. a hypocrite, and i think he's done with the tea party. >> yeah. join the powers that are attacking freddie mac and get paid to defend them. what a brilliant washington game, and now he's been caught the price of front-runnership, newt. >> exactly. >> thank you joan walsh. had to have you two here. i think it's so great. you two are the best at understanding washington. thank you david corn and joan. >>> coming up, from herman cain's brain freeze, that's a nice word for it, to rick perry's oops last week, to michele bachmann on just about everything she tries to handle, how many blunders can a political party stand and still stand up? and how damaging to the republican brand name are endless gaffes on everything from the important to the $opeless? you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. premier of the packed bag. you know organization is key... and so is having a trusted assistant. and you...rent from national. because only national lets yo

he denies he ever lobbied for freddie mac. we asked freddie mac.y for them. it's a fact gingrich was never a registered lobbyist. but many of his critics and his opponents say that's a matter of semantics. gingrich has said he'll make his freddie mac records public to the extent that he can. instead, late today his campaign released a list of what they called a fact sheet about gingrich's ties to freddie mac. they said that is all they will be releasing. joining me now political contributors ari fleischer. you can follow him on twitter @arifleischer. and hillary rosen. how big a problem is this for newt gingrich? >> anderson, i think this is neither a tempest nor a teapot. i think there's any number of people who worked for these companies and gave strategic advice to them. which is what newt acknowledged he did. he said he didn't lobby for them. i think it's problematic the 2008 interview we are said president obama should return the money. obviously, that's a little inconsistent with him keeping the money. but you know, on the day that the debt t

they can apply and fan from and freddie will try to find them a lender. that's what they do. >> 90% of all mortgages now being granted in the u.s. are being granted through the efforts of. >> not a bad thing for an honest, hard-working person to have some help finding a mortgage. that's not a bad thing. >> no. where fannie and freddie went wrong in the late 19 0s, the clinton administration launched a homeowner initiative where their goal was to redirect the efforts of fannie and freddie. at low income people. the criticism was. >> people would have trouble paying the bills. >> too much middle income. >> andrew cuomo the secretary of hud told them waive your down payment requirements. don't require money down. don't require income verification. and subsidize interest rate. >> bill: give them the mortgage and if they get in trouble help them with it that's why they build up, build up. >> it wasn't a question of helping them with it give it to them for basically nothing down. if he they fall behind in the interest payments, the inflation and the value of th

was on fre freddie mac's payroll for eight years, beginning in 1999. he claims he tried to warn them they were making too many risky loans. >> i said to them at the time, this is a bubble. this is insane. this is impossible. >> reporter: but sources familiar with gingrich's work for freddie mac say they don't recall him ever saying anything like that. they say he was hired for one reason and one reason only -- his political influence. diane? >> and jon karl is reporting in from washington tonight. >>> well, today, an unlikely new face emerged as a symbol for the occupy movement that has spawned protests across the nation. her name is dorli rainey. 4'10", 84 years old, a former schoolteacher. she was pepper sprayed by police during a protest in seattle. tonight, she says she'll be back, and, quote, i'm pretty tough, i guess. and in new york, the demonstrators returned to zuccotti park. but they can no longer camp there. while in london, officials sent letters to protesters, politely asking them to leave. tomorrow marks two months since the occupy protes