Rahm Emanuel's Freddie Mac Problem

It's not news that current White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel sat on the board of Freddie Mac for 14 months beginning in 2000, earning $320,000. What hasn't been reported much before is what he did—or didn't do—during his tenure. The Chicago Tribune alleges in a new report that the power broker was "asleep-at-the-switch." The paper claims he "benefited from the kind of cozy ties between Washington and Wall Street that have fueled the nation's current economic mess." Though the board met just six times a year, they were notified "by executives of a plan to use accounting tricks to mislead shareholders about outsize profits the government-chartered firm was then reaping from risky investments." The claims of Emanuel's negligence have become key talking points of right-wing bloggers, according to CBS News.