In Case You Missed It:
A new fact check from the Reno Gazette-Journal debunks one of Cortez Masto’s central campaign claims.
What are they saying?
According to the RGJ:
The claim
Catherine Cortez Masto forced big banks to pay $1.9 billion to Nevadans as part of a settlement stemming from foreclosure practices after the housing collapse.
The verdict
A number of news sites, including the Reno Gazette-Journal, repeated a campaign talking point when Cortez Masto announced she would run for Reid’s seat almost a year ago: “Cortez Masto’s signature accomplishments as attorney general included starting a Mortgage Fraud Strike Force to investigate foreclosure-related fraud and securing nearly $2 billion for state’s homeowners as part of the National Mortgage Settlement.”
This claim was not vetted by media outlets, and Masto’s own words contradict it.
Cortez Masto did not force multiple banks to pay Nevadans $1.9 billion, as her ad claims. She said it herself: “I was not part of the year-long negotiation.”
And she said it again: “When this settlement came to Nevada — for a lack of a better word — the cake was already baked. I mean all the terms were already set into it.”
Read below for the full report on how Cortez Masto now takes credit for something she herself disavowed multiple times as attorney general.
Did Cortez Masto Force Banks To Pay Nevada $1.9b?
Reno Gazette-Journal
By Mark Robison
March 16, 2016
The claim
Catherine Cortez Masto forced big banks to pay $1.9 billion to Nevadans as part of a settlement stemming from foreclosure practices after the housing collapse.
The background
Cortez Masto is running as a Democrat for Harry Reid’s seat in the U.S. Senate. Her campaign has released a video ad where her husband says, “Catherine took on the big banks when they preyed on homeowners and forced them to pay $1.9 billion to Nevadans.”
This refers to her time as state attorney general during the fallout from the last recession when two settlements were reached bringing around $1.9 billion to Nevadans. (Early reports estimated the amount at $1.5 billion.)
…
In a separately negotiated deal, five major banks struck a $25 billion deal with the U.S. Justice Department and 50 state attorneys general to cut interest rates and mortgage debt for homeowners nationwide.
It quoted people displeased with a provision calling for banks to pay about $2,000 to each person whose foreclosure was “tainted by robosigning issues and other problems.”
…
About a week later, Cortez Masto was asked explicitly about the national settlement. She was interviewed on KRNV by Anjeanette Damon, who is now the RGJ’s government watchdog reporter. Damon asks if the national settlement with the big banks was worth it for homeowners who had been foreclosed on, given how little they were helped individually.
Cortez Masto responded, “If you look at it from that perspective, no. And keep in mind, when this settlement came to Nevada — for a lack of a better word — the cake was already baked. I mean all the terms were already set into it.”
When introducing the third segment of the interview, Damon said she would be talking with Cortez Masto about the “settlement she helped broker against five of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders.”
Cortez Masto corrected Damon: “Let me just say, I didn’t help broker this. The only thing I brokered was the Bank of America piece of it. The other part of the global settlement, the cake was already baked by the time we got it to make a decision whether we were going to sign on or not. I wasn’t part of that.”
About a week after this, she was interviewed again on KRNV, this time by political analyst Jon Ralston. She said “I was not part of the year-long negotiation.”
Ralston asked why she was not in the middle of the negotiations since Nevada was so hard hit by the foreclosure crisis.
Cortez Masto replied that it was “not for a lack of trying. … I had asked to be a part of it and was not allowed to participate.”
The verdict
A number of news sites, including the Reno Gazette-Journal, repeated a campaign talking point when Cortez Masto announced she would run for Reid’s seat almost a year ago: “Cortez Masto’s signature accomplishments as attorney general included starting a Mortgage Fraud Strike Force to investigate foreclosure-related fraud and securing nearly $2 billion for state’s homeowners as part of the National Mortgage Settlement.”
This claim was not vetted by media outlets, and Masto’s own words contradict it.
…
Cortez Masto did not force multiple banks to pay Nevadans $1.9 billion, as her ad claims. She said it herself: “I was not part of the year-long negotiation.”
And she said it again: “When this settlement came to Nevada — for a lack of a better word — the cake was already baked. I mean all the terms were already set into it.”
Truth meter: 3 out of 10 (with 10 being completely true and 0 being completely false)
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