Gingrich distances himself from Freddie Mac payments
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, surging in recent polls, tonight distanced himself from payments that his consulting firm collected from Freddie Mac, which he has blasted on the campaign trail for its role in the national housing crisis.
“I didn’t take it,’’ Gingrich said after an event at Harvard University when asked about reports that he collected nearly $2 million from the agency.
He said the funds were paid to the Gingrich Group, his health care consulting firm, and demurred when asked if he would return the money to Freddie Mac, as he has called on President Obama to do. Obama has received campaign contributions from the agency.
“[The funds] weren’t paid to me when I was a candidate,’’ Gingrich said.
He said clients approached the group and its affiliate, The Center for Health Transformation, for advice from someone well-schooled in the ways of Washington, adding that he is sometimes referred to in news reports as the “smartest guy in the room.’’ He later said he was being “tongue-in-cheek’’ with that remark.
“[Clients] had a chance to come and be in meetings with someone who had been speaker of the House,’’ he said. “Who understood Washington, who understood history … And we would swap ideas.’’
Gingrich addressed reporters after a screening of a documentary that he produced with his wife Callista entitled “A City Upon a Hill,’’ which promotes American exceptionalism.
He said that he has been stunned by his recent spike in polling, which has placed him near the top of the field with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
“I have to tell you that it is almost disorienting,’’ he said. “I’m now, I think, probably with Romney, we’re [the] two frontrunners for the moment.’’
During a question and answer session with students after the film, one student from Bavaria asked Gingrich why the documentary painted Europe as far less democratic than the United States.
Gingrich said that while a rigid class system exists in Europe, the United States has “the most open-to-talent system on the planet. That’s just an objective fact … Europe tends to be run by oligarchies who love cartels and who try to avoid the public’’ through bureaucracies.
Gingrich was also greeted by hecklers before the screening, who shouted in unison, “We love you, Newt! Thank you for standing up for corporations!’’
As security was called to remove the demonstrators, they shouted, “We are the 99 percent,’’ the clarion cry of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Though one attendee told the hecklers to “get back in your tents,’’ Gingrich appealed to a sense of national unity.
“I think we are 100 percent,’’ Gingrich said. “I think we are all Americans.’’
That line drew a sustained applause.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com