The Hartford Courant wrote in an editorial that despite mishandling the issue, “the evidence supports” Dodd’s claims that he did not get a preferential deal on two mortgages he refinanced with Countrywide Financial, the mortgage giant that collapsed in 2008.

“The senator and his wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, negotiated interest rates and terms widely available in the marketplace when they refinanced the two homes. That’s not special treatment,” the editorial concluded.