Gingrich ‘is welcome to release’ his contract, Freddie Mac official says

Newt Gingrich can release the details of his contract with Freddie Mac, a vice president of the mortgage giant told Bloomberg on Thursday.

Gingrich previously had said he couldn’t release the document, which details the consulting work for which he and his firm were paid at least $1.6 million, because of a confidentiality agreement.

{mosads}The former House Speaker noted he had requested Freddie Mac lift the confidentiality agreement, but that it declined and he wouldn’t circumvent it.

“I don’t particularly want them to sue us,” he said last month.

But in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, Freddie Mac Vice President Sharon McHale told a different story.

“We are not opposed to Mr. Gingrich discussing the broad terms of his consulting agreement with Freddie Mac,” she said. “He is welcome to release the contract.”

Gingrich’s rivals have accused him of profiting off of his tenure as Speaker by lobbying on behalf of the firm, which has needed billions of taxpayer dollars to stay afloat.

Gingrich said he was a paid consultant for the firm and advised them as an “historian” that their business model was “insane.”

“Speaker Gingrich’s consulting firm, The Gingrich Group, was retained in 2006 by Freddie Mac,” his campaign stated in November. “To be clear, Speaker Gingrich did no lobbying of any kind, nor did his firm. This was expressly written into the Gingrich Group contracts. Instead, the Gingrich Group was hired to offer strategic advice to Freddie Mac on a number of issues.”

Gingrich has claimed that most of the money from Freddie Mac went to the Gingrich Group, not to him personally.