Gingrich under scrutiny for cash his charity paid to his for-profit company

Did Newt Gingrich indirectly profit off of one of his private charities?

ABC News reports that Renewing American Leadership, a non-profit charity founded by Gingrich to promote Christian principals in Washington, paid $220,000 over the last two years to one of the ex-lawmaker's for-profit business, Gingrich Communications.

According to ABC, the non-profit purchased cases of Gingrich's books and copies of DVDs produced by another for-profit entity operated by the ex-speaker, Gingrich Productions. The charity also promoted Gingrich's political views in its fund-raising letters, according to ABC, and shared its mailing list with the 2012 hopeful.

The former House speaker dodged questions about the allegations ahead of a speech in New Hampshire this morning. As CNN's Shannon Travis reports, Gingrich at first told an ABC producer he wouldn't answer her questions about the issue—but then he and his press secretary, R.C. Hammond, indicated he would.

But after his speech, the former lawmaker tried to dodge the producer again. Asked about the allegations as he tried to exit, Gingrich told ABC, "I'm not concerned about that. The American people aren't concerned about that. Try covering the speech."

He then got into a car and slammed the door. The entire testy exchange, CNN notes, was caught on camera.

According to CNN, Hammond told reporters on the scene that Gingrich didn't know what the ABC reporter was talking about. But ABC reports that it had been questioning the Gingrich campaign for weeks about the cash that went from his charity to his for-profit businesses.

In a later statement, Joe DeSantis, Gingrich's communications director, defended his boss and said the committees' dealings were a "perfectly normal and common practice."

"Despite all the innuendo in the ABC story, their team of journalists did not find any activity that was not fully supported by the law," he said in an email to reporters.

He said the charity purchased Gingrich's books "at cost"--insisting no money was made off the transaction.

There are strict rules limiting the political activities of tax-exempt charities. But in the run-up to his 2012 bid, Gingrich's day-to-day activities appear to have been heavily supported by a network of non-profit political committees, loosely dubbed as "Newt Inc." It was his attempts to untangle himself from that network that delayed his official entry into the 2012 race, a Gingrich aide told The Ticket in April.

(Photo of Gingrich speaking to ABC: Jim Cole/AP)