Doesn't the director or CEO of the

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By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ

November 7, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot "red flags," according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com.

According to a complaint later filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie Mac, known formally as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, misreported profits by billions of dollars in order to deceive investors between the years 2000 and 2002.

Emanuel was not named in the SEC complaint (click here to read) but the entire board was later accused by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) (click here to read) of having "failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention."

In a statement to ABCNews.com, a spokesperson said Emanuel served on the board for "13 months-a relatively short period of time."

The spokesperson said that while on the board, Emanuel "believed that Freddie Mac needed to address concerns raised by Congressional critics."

Freddie Mac agreed to pay a $50 million penalty in 2007 to settle the SEC complaint and four top executives of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation were charged with negligent conduct and, like the company, agreed to settle the case without admitting or denying the allegations.

The actions by Freddie Mac are cited by some economists as the beginning of the country's economic meltdown.

The federal government this year was forced to take over Freddie Mac and a sister federal mortgage agency, Fannie Mae, pledging at least $200 billion in public funds.

Freddie Mac records have been subpoenaed by the Justice Department as part of its investigation of the suspect accounting procedures.

Emanuel was named to the Freddie Mac board by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and resigned his position when he ran for Congress in May, 2001.

Freddie Mac Misrepresented Income, Says SEC

During the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to the SEC, Freddie Mac substantially misrepresented its income to "present investors with the image of a company that would continue to generate predictable and growing earnings."

The role of the 18-member board of directors, including Emanuel, was not addressed in the SEC's public action but was heavily criticized by the oversight group (OFHEO) in 2003.

The oversight report said the board had been apprised of the suspect accounting tactics but "failed to make reasonable inquiries of management."

The report also said board members appointed by the President, such as Emanuel, serve terms that are far too short "for them to play a meaningful role on the Board."

As a Congressman, Emanuel recused himself from any votes dealing with Freddie Mac until just this year.

In dealing with the nation's economic crisis, the new White House chief of staff will almost certainly be involved in discussions about the house and mortgage markets.

Emanuel's spokesperson said, "As White House chief of staff he will work with President-elect Obama and his economic advisers to help ensure we protect taxpayers and homeowners."

WASHINGTON � Director Leon Panetta says agency records show CIA officers briefed lawmakers truthfully in 2002 on methods of interrogating terrorism suspects, but it is up to Congress to reach its own conclusions about what happened.

Panetta's message to agency employees came one day after Speaker Pelosi said bluntly the CIA had misled her and other lawmakers about the use of waterboarding and other harsh techniques seven years ago.

Panetta wrote that the political debates about interrogation "reached a new decibel level" with the charges.

He urged agency employees to "ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/15/cia-director-panetta-reco_n_204005.html

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused the CIA of misleading Congress about its use of enhanced interrogation techniques on terror detainees.

"Yes I am saying the CIA was misleading the Congress, and at the same time the (Bush) administration was misleading the Congress on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to which I said that this intelligence doesn't support the imminent threat," Pelosi said at her weekly news conference.

"Every step of the way the administration was misleading the Congress and that is the issue and that's why we need a truth commission," she said.

Under a barrage of questioning, Pelosi adamantly insisted that she was not aware that waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation techniques were being used on terrorism suspects.

"I am telling you they told me they approved these and said they wanted to use them but said they were not using waterboarding," she said.

Growing increasingly frustrated throughout the briefing, Pelosi slowly started backing away from the podium as she tried to end the questioning.

As she backed out, she continued to accuse the CIA of not telling Congress that dissenting opinions had been filed within the administration suggesting the methods were not lawful.

The CIA immediately disputed Pelosi's accusation, saying the documents describing the particular enhanced interrogation techniques that had been employed are accurate. CIA spokesman George Little noted that CIA Director Leon Panetta made available to the House Intelligence Committee memos from individuals who led the briefings with House members.

"The language in the chart -- 'a description of the particular EITs that had been employed' -- is true to the language in the agency's records," Little said. "The chart I'm referring to is, of course, the list of member briefings on enhanced interrogation techniques."

"It's hard for me to imagine anyone in our intelligence area would ever mislead a member of Congress," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said at his weekly news conference. "They come to the Hill to brief us because they're required to under the law. I don't know what motivation they would have to mislead anyone."

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., told FOX News that Pelosi's accusation against the CIA is "not credible."

"I am afraid she has disremembered what she went through," he said. "We have had not only the records from the CIA but the contemporaries who were there with her had other views on it, so I am afraid that this is not a credible explanation."

Pelosi said she was briefed only once on the interrogation methods in September 2002. She acknowledged that her intelligence aide, Michael Sheehy, informed her about another briefing five months later in which Bush officials said waterboarding was being used on CIA terror detainee Abu Zubaydah.

Pelosi said she supported a letter drafted by Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee who also attended the briefing in February 2003, and sent to the Bush administration, raising concerns over the technique.

Pelosi's account has changed several times in recent weeks as she has sought to clarify what she did or didn't know about the interrogation methods that she is pushing to investigate.

Pelosi said last month that she was never told that the controversial interrogation methods were being used. But a national intelligence report later showed that she was briefed seven years ago on the tactics while she was on the House Intelligence Committee.

Her spokesman then said the speaker thought the techniques were legal and that waterboarding was not used.

Democrats will hold a series of hearings on Justice Department memos released last month that justified rough tactics against detainees, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation.

While Democrats want the hearings to focus on what they call torture, Republicans have tried to turn the issue to their advantage by complaining that Pelosi and other Democrats knew of the tactics but didn't protest.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/14/pelosi-reiterates-didnt-know-waterboarding-use/

In a story that appeared in the Times on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Ayers told a reporter while promoting his memoir "Fugitive Days": "I don't regret setting bombs...I feel we didn't do enough."

After all, most employees can be fired at will so why not the politicians? Aren't they suppose to work for the people.

with the fact that Israel is really Arab land? How about the idea that Israel didn't even exist as a nation until established by a third party. How about the fact that Israel has been cutting off supplies from Gaza? (That would include food, medicine, etc) I don't know about you, but I tend to get a little testy when my kids don't have food. How about the fact that the US consistently manipulates people in that region (putting in leaders the US wants, only to take them out again when its convenient), and yet when it comes to Israel, the US has given them money and sofisticated weapons to fight against homemade rockets. How about the idea that when Iran invaded Iraq the US was all over it, but when Israel does the same thing to Gaza we just give them a green light and ignore the civilian death toll. How about the idea that oftentimes the US has backed both sides of a war, playing each for what it can get? Oh, by the way, Israel is not the only democracy over there. You don't think any of this has anything to do with it?

And if you really want to bring religion into it, how about that all important commandment about *thou shalt not kill?*

Have you noticed how palestinian land keeps getting smaller and smaller? Is that because the land is shrinking or because Israel is greedy?

that Bush started out with a surplus and created this huge deficit? Please....raise your hands if you don't know that because for some reason people continue to think that we DON'T KNOW THIS INFORMATION AND CONTINUE TO POST IT. Holy friggin cow.....WE KNOW ALREADY.

I can't change what Bush did. I wish I could.....but I can't. All I can do is watch what our government and our CURRENT president is doing now. Your arguments about Bush creating this deficit doesn't do squat for me when Obama wants to add to this deficit by continued government spending. President Obama is more concerned about his agenda for creating bigger government than he is cuttin this deficit. He can't do it. Sending troops into Afghan......doubling the deficit in just one month's time since he took office. Some of you people are more concerned about making us all know Bush ran up this deficit (WHICH WE KNOW, BTW) and refuse to see what Obama is doing........spending spending spending spending spending. You can't buy your way out of debt. That is like getting one loan to pay another one off or paying one credit card bill with another credit card......it is just plain STUPID STUPID STUPID.

So please....stop with the.....well Bush created this deficit.....WE KNOW THAT ALREADY. Now we have to focus on our president now and watch what he is doing. I'm p!ssed at both pubs and dems. I'm all for what Chuck Norris said on Glenn Beck last night.....he wants to line up all the unhonest politicians and choke them until they are unconscious.....that includes pubs and dems. They are all liars. they are all out for their own agenda. They care more about their pockets being filled with money and their "pet projects" they keep stuffing into these spending bills. INSANITY!!!! To he!! with both parties. I truly hope that come election time we have an independent that I can believe in because I certainly will not vote for either party. Screw them both. If we vote them all out, maybe they will realize how mad we are and that we aren't going to take it.

Instead......all we can talk about is how this is all Bush's fault. LOL. Seriously....we all know what Bush did. Now let's focus on the current president and see what he plans on doing and whether it will help or not. Right now.....spending money we don't have isn't the answer. STOP GOVERNMENT SPENDING!!!!

If Cindy Sheehan had the right to spew her feelings Army Mom has that right too. Works both ways as bad as you HATE it...

All he does is sign them all with a Presidential statement changing whatever he doesn't like about the law when he signs it, just like he did with the McCain torture bill. He signed it but amended it to add that he still reserves the right to torture.

IF Obama gets in, then Hilary can't run against him next time. He would be the incumbent, and I don't see her jumping ships.

Doesn't the director or CEO of the

Emanuel Was Director Of Freddie Mac During Scandal

New Obama Chief of Staff, Others on Board, Missed "Red Flags" of Alleged Fraud Scheme

Freddie Mac Misrepresented Income, Says SEC