Reuters - Within months after taking over as chief lobbyist at mortgage lender Freddie Mac in 1999, Mitchell Delk hired a prominent Washington insider to advise him on how to build support among conservatives on Capitol Hill: Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives.

AP - GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich began receiving payments from Freddie Mac in 1999 under a contract that paid his consulting business $25,000 a month to work with the mortgage giant’s chief lobbyist, according to a second agreement released Tuesday night.

AP - Under pressure, Newt Gingrich arranged the release of a contract Monday night showing the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. paid his consulting firm a $25,000 monthly retainer fee in 2006, for a total of $300,000.

AP - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has criticized rival Newt Gingrich for earning more than $1.6 million in consulting fees from Freddie Mac even though he has as much as $500,000 invested in the U.S.-backed lender and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.

The Christian Science Monitor - One would think that after 17 GOP presidential debates, everything the remaining candidates have to say has already been said.

The Christian Science Monitor - Six former top executives at the housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac misled investors about the subprime-loan risks they faced, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a civil fraud lawsuit Friday.

AP - The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday brought civil fraud charges against six former top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying they misled investors about risky subprime loans the mortgage giants held when the housing bubble burst.

AP - A government watchdog says Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac improperly foreclosed on homeowners and cost the government billions of dollars by not holding major banks to strict underwriting requirements.

Reuters - Congressional committees are in no rush to investigate what U.S. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich did for up to $1.8 million in consulting fees from troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

Reuters - The California attorney general’s office has sent subpoenas to Fannie Ma e and Freddie Mac in a wide-reaching probe into the government-backed mortgage giants’ lending and foreclosure practices, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.