Why did government officials want to deny that what they obviously intended to do, and what they obviously were doing, was what it was?

Whom Do You Trust? 

A Bond Salesman or Government Official?

By Alex Pollock

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the notorious government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), had before their failure very high leverage and very small capital ratios, with credit risk of about 60 times their capital. 

Yet together they were able to borrow $5 trillion from buyers of their bonds and mortgage-backed securities around the world. 

How were they able to get people to buy this massive amount of their debt?

You know the answer: investors did not view it as Fannie and Freddie's own debt, but rather as an obligation of the United States Treasury.

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Why did government officials want to deny that what they obviously intended to do, and what they obviously were doing, was what it was?

Because they wanted to keep Fannie and Freddie's debt off the government's books. In this they succeeded and continue to succeed. 

Thus the bailout of 2008 reflected the 1968 legislation which created the fateful GSE structure, the purpose of which was to get Fannie's debt off the government's books.

We couldn't have the government honestly telling us how big its debt is, could we?

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