The victory of the Democrats in the Senate races this past week has been good news for the party, but the lingering trouble over past loans to Senators who were friends of Angelo linger on. Senators Dodd and Conrad are in the cross-hairs  of a Federal investigation after taking sweetheart loans personally approved by Angelo Mozilo, then head of Countrywide Home Loans.

Senator Conrad did something wrong, but the real fallout is with Senator Dodd who is the head of the Senate Banking Committee which oversees lending institutions. When you have control over regulation of the banking industry one of the questions incumbent upon you is the ask when borrowing money is “Is everything with this loan above board?”

Obviously in this situation it was not.

Since the Dodd story broke in June, the five-term senator has offered contradictory fragments of explanations and intentions. Scheherazade after a six-pack of Red Bull would not have told more desperate tales. Dodd gallops the gamut from calling the allegations of special treatment “outrageous” to pledging repeatedly and specifically to release documents related to the $800,000 in sweetheart deals he got from Countrywide.

Still claiming “there’s nothing there,” Dodd refuses to say whether his Senate campaign committee’s payments of $60,000 last summer to a Washington law firm, which has a history of representing Democratic senators in trouble, were for his defense in the Senate ethics investigation of his dealings with Countrywide. via  Courant.com.

Related posts:

1. Countrywide Told Dodd and Conrad They Were Getting Special Deal on Mortgages
2. Countrywide Mortgages Friends Of Angelo Program Investigation Stalled
3. Countrywide’s Mozilo Charged With Securities Fraud and Insider Trading by S.E.C.
4. Angelo Mozilo To Be Charged With Fraud By The SEC
5. Senator Feinstein Offers Help To FDIC Who Then Awards Above Market Contract To Husband