The loan does not appear on any of Sessions' annual financial disclosure reports. Sessions got Countrywide VIP loan

Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, a top member of the House GOP leadership, received a VIP mortgage from defunct lender Countrywide Financial Corp., making him the fourth current member of the House who has acknowledged getting a sweetheart deal.

Sessions’ office would not comment on the amount of the loan or when it was issued, although press reports state that it was a 2007 transaction worth as much as $1 million. The loan does not appear on any of Sessions’ annual financial disclosure reports on file with the House Clerk’s office. Lawmakers and senior aides must file such reports each year, but they are allowed to leave off information regarding personal homes or property that do not generate any income.


“Out of an abundance of caution in managing his personal finances, Congressman Sessions specifically requested that he not be extended any special benefits or treatment from Countrywide,” said Torrie Miller, Sessions’ spokeswoman. “Everything about his experience suggests that his simple request was honored and that he was treated like every other customer. Congressman Sessions welcomes providing any details requested by any House Committee about this loan, which no longer exists.”

House ethics rules require that lawmakers and staff may only accept “loans from banks and other financial institutions on terms generally available to the public.”

Sessions, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, joins Reps. Ed Towns (D-N.Y.), Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) and Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) in acknowledging being notified that they received below-market loans from Countrywide’s VIP program. The program was put in place by Angelo Mozilo, former Countrywide CEO, and it was designed to boost the company’s standing with celebrities, athletes, and well-connected business and government officials.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and former Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) also received special loans through Countrywide’s VIP unit. No charges were ever filed against the two senators, but the Senate Ethics Committee said both Conrad and Dodd “should have exercised more vigilance” in their dealings with Countrywide.

Altogether, about 30 loans from the Countrywide VIP program went to senators or staff, Issa told the Senate Ethics Committee in July 2010.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has been investigating the Countrywide VIP program since 2008. Last month, Issa announced that he had sent the names of four current House members to the Ethics Committee after documents his panel obtained showed they had received below-market loans from Countrywide.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that McKeon, chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a close ally of Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio), received a special $315,000 loan from Countrywide in the late 1990s. Gallegly, who recently announced he would retire from Congress at the end of this year, got a $77,000 loan.

Both California Republicans asserted that they never sought nor were aware that they had gotten any special favor from Countrywide, which is similar to the denials issued by Conrad and Dodd.

And now, with three House GOP lawmakers caught up in Issa’s Countrywide probe, Democrats are trying to use his investigation to their own political advantage.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Issa’s counterpart on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent Issa a letter Tuesday demanding to know how he plans to proceed with his continuing Countrywide investigation.

The NRCC has also scrubbed its website of any references to Countrwide or the VIP loan program, Democrats gleefully claimed.

In his letter, Cummings accused Issa of backtracking on a pledge to disclose the findings of subpoenas issued to Countrywide, which was purchased by Bank of America during the 2008 U.S. financial crisis, including the names of the lawmakers who may have received special loans – by instead referring them to the House Ethics Committee. By doing so, Issa “reversed course,” Cummings said.

“This is exactly the approach you criticized when used for Democratic Senators Kent Conrad and Christopher Dodd and precisely the approach you abandoned when you issued your subpoena last February,” Cummings wrote to Issa.

Cummings also released an internal Countrywide document that appears to show Mozilo himself was involved in the McKeon loan. McKeon”obtained a significant discount on his VIP loan as a direct result of personal intervention” by Mozilo, Cummings asserted.

It is unclear at this time what, if anything, the House Ethics Committee will do on the Countrywide issue, but the panel may come under great pressure to act in the coming months.

Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.