(Image Source: Charlotte Observer)  

BY VICTORIA CRAIG

You're watching multi-source polical video news analysis from Newsy. 

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich continue their heated battle over releasing financial documents. HLN describes an explosive exchange between the two candidates over Freddie Mac during Monday’s GOP debate -- and how Gingrich is fighting back.

“He accused Gingrich of lobbying for mortgage giant Freddie Mac...FLASH...Gingrich not only denied that he lobbied for Freddie Mac, he’s released one of his contracts with the company and you’re gonna see how much money his consulting firm made at that.”

Romney’s made no bones about his beef with the former House Speaker’s relationship with Freddie Mac. Romney accused Gingrich of lobbying for the mortgage giant, but as Bloomberg explains, the Gingrich campaign has a different story.

“He consulted. That’s his official line, Margaret, is that he consulted and other services that he saw fit, or that his employer saw fit to do. The important part is that Newt Gingrich answered to the top lobbyist at Freddie Mac and he was at the call of that top lobbyist.”

And when he’s not calling himself a consultant--Gingrich refers to himself as a Freddie Mac historian.
The Huffington Post says-- that’s an interesting description.

“Gingrich had previously claimed that Freddie Mac hired him as a ‘historian,’ but he may be the first historian in history to have hired a consultant to make sure his historical work didn't accidentally drift into the legal definition of lobbying.”

A consultant? A historian? Something else?  Fox Business explains the difficulty in nailing down a specific definition for Gingrich’s association with Freddie Mac.

“There are strict technical and registration requirements to qualify as a lobbyist. Technically, Gingrich was not registered to lobby for Freddie Mac.”

But regardless of what Gingrich’s role was at the mortgage firm-- The Washington Post explains why any association with Freddie Mac has become a political sticking point.

“Many Republicans have criticized Freddie Mac because the company invested in risky mortgages and then needed billions of dollars in taxpayer money for a bailout after the housing market meltdown.”

Ultimately, Karl Rove tells Fox News, despite efforts, Gingrich didn’t settle the “lobbyist” argument in Monday’s debate.

“Look, there’s a reason why Freddie paid Newt Gingrich $1.6 million. It was so he would be on the payroll, they could point to his support of Freddie and Fannie as evidence that conservatives could comfortably continue to support them.”

The released contract covers just one of the three years Gingrich worked for Freddie Mac -- The Hill reports until more documents are released, Gingrich will continue to field questions from the media and other GOP campaigns.