NBC's Mitchell repeated falsehood that McCain campaign manager "has not been at all involved in anything involving Fannie or Freddie"

Summary: NBC News' Andrea Mitchell falsely asserted that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis "has not been at all involved in anything involving Fannie or Freddie." In fact, Davis reportedly served as president of the Homeownership Alliance, a Washington-based advocacy group whose founding members included Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In an interview about reports that a firm owned by Sen. John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, was paid $15,000 a month by mortgage finance company Freddie Mac, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell falsely asserted that Davis "has not been at all involved in anything involving Fannie or Freddie." After making this assertion during the September 24 segment on MSNBC Live, Mitchell asked McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer about Davis' firm's contract with Freddie Mac: "Can you guarantee the voters -- the American people -- that even though Rick Davis has not taken any money, and you say has not lobbied, that he will not sometime in the future benefit from money that has gone to his firm, in which he still has a partnership interest?" In fact, Davis has reportedly "been ... involved in [something] involving" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; several media outlets have reported that Davis previously served as president of the Homeownership Alliance, a Washington-based advocacy group whose founding members included Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which Media Matters for America has noted.

Citing "current and former officials," The New York Times reported on September 21 that Davis "was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of" the Homeownership Alliance, "an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations." The Times reported:

The [McCain campaign] spokesman, Tucker Bounds, also noted that the Homeownership Alliance included nonprofit organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the Urban League. "It's not controversial to promote homeownership and minority homeownership," Mr. Bounds said. More than a half-dozen current and former executives, however, said the Homeownership Alliance was set up mainly to defend Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by promoting their role in the housing market, and the two companies paid almost the entire cost of the group's operations.

From the 1 p.m. ET hour of the September 24 edition of MSNBC Live:

MITCHELL: The campaign has come out again today very aggressively against The New York Times. Now, The New York Times was not alone, it was Newsweek and Roll Call reporting on, at least, payments made to campaign manager Rick Davis' firm. And you've pointed out, the campaign, you have pointed out that Rick Davis did not lobby, did not take money from the firm --

PFOTENHAUER: Right.

MITCHELL: -- has not been at all involved in anything involving Fannie or Freddie. Can you guarantee, you know, the voters -- the American people -- that even though Rick Davis has not taken any money, and you say has not lobbied, that he will not sometime in the future benefit from money that has gone to his firm, in which he still has a partnership interest?

PFOTENHAUER: Well, you know, Andrea, you, at least, are presenting it evenhandedly. Rick never lobbied for Fannie and Freddie, and let's -- you know, I don't think they reported the story, I think they engaged in activist journalism that's more of The Huffington Post caliber than certainly should be expected from a major newspaper outlet.

The story is that Rick never took any money from Fannie, never lobbied for Fannie and Freddie, and that John McCain actively fought for reform, versus Barack Obama, who took record-number amounts of money from Fannie and Freddie, and looked the other way on reform. That -- you know, that's the story. And as far as potentially benefiting in the future, the McCain campaign has the highest level of standards ever applied in presidential election history that precludes us -- lobbyist involvement in any potential future benefit. And we've challenged the Obama campaign repeatedly to comply by the same rules and procedures. They won't do it, and they won't release their list of advisers, even though they acknowledge there are lobbyists on that list.

—M.M.B.