New Twist in Countrywide Loan Probe

CBS News

Add Congressman Edolphus Towns to the growing list of influential Democratic and Republican VIP's who received loans from Countrywide Financial. That's significant because Towns, a Democrat, heads the committee investigating the mortgage giant's practices. And he personally is blocking the effort to subpoena Countrywide documents, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

Republican Darrell Issa is behind the subpoena effort.

"It's really about what Countrywide sought to do, how vast it was, what they got for their millions of dollars in discounts and how do we make sure it doesn't happen again," Issa said.

A Countrywide whistleblower says the company aggressively courted those in position to influence regulations as it made billions by giving out risky loans, then selling them to government-backed Fannie Mae. Billions of dollars worth of those loans defaulted at taxpayer expense.

Corruption is like a weight around the neck, dragging the wearer into the murky depths. The good news is that Hell is only half full.