Association With Barack Obama
Johnson has been a strong supporter of Barack Obama since at least 2004. Johnson gave $1,000 to Obama's Senate campaign in 2004. In 2008 he donated the maximum allowed $4,600 to Obama's presidential campaign. In addition, Johnson was a bundler for the Obama campaign, raising between $200,000 and $500,000. He also participated in Obama campaign efforts to recruit former Clinton supporters.
On June 4, 2008, Obama announced the formation of a three-person committee to vet vice presidential candidates, including Johnson. However, Johnson soon became a source of controversy when it was reported that he had received $7 million in cut-rate mortgage loans directly from Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide Financial, a company implicated in the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. Although he was not accused of any wrongdoing and was initially defended by Obama on the grounds that he was simply an unpaid volunteer, Johnson announced he would step down from the vice-presidential vetting position on June 11, 2008, in order to avoid being a distraction to Obama's campaign.
On September 19, 2008, the John McCain campaign released an ad critical of Obama which linked him to Johnson, stating that "Fannie cooked the books and Johnson made millions. Then Obama asked him to pick his VP."
Read more about this topic: James A. Johnson (politics)
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