Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Monday that she has no regrets about having suggested last week during a conference call that Mitt Romney might be guilty of a “felony.”
“It’s a fact,” Cutter told CNN host Wolf Blitzer. “If you are signing federal documents knowing them to be false it’s a felony.
“Anybody who’s worked in the federal government knows that. Anybody who’s been involved in the business world knows that.”
Although Cutter doesn’t regret using the word “felony”, she attempted tell Blitzer that the campaign does not consider Romney a criminal and sought to partially walk back her prior comments.
“I’m going to repeat what I said the other day,” Cutter said. “Either Mitt Romney was attesting to something that is true to the [Securities and Exchange Commission] – that he was the CEO, president, chairman and sole owner of Bain Capital – or he’s representing his time at Bain Capital to the American people because both of those things can’t be true.
“If you are signing federal documents that aren’t actually true it is a felony, but we are not accusing Mitt Romney of committing a crime here.”
She pointed to news reports suggesting that Romney’s name appeared on Bain press releases and collected a salary during his leave of absence to make her point that Romney is a liar.
Blitzer pressed her a second time as to whether or not she had accused Romney of “committing a crime,” but she again denied having implied that in here earlier comment.
“No. His explanation doesn’t add up,” Cutter said, moving into her talking points suggesting that Romney is lying about his involvement with Bain.
Cutter then sought to dismiss Blitzer when he pointed out that Romney’s active role managing Bain Capital ended in Feb. 1999, saying that Romney still was responsible for the investment firm’s decisions even if he wasn’t actively involved because his name remained on SEC documents.
“He was the chairman of the board,” Cutter said. “He didn’t resign as chairman of the board. Did he ever attend any board meetings by conference call, call-in?
“Whether he was in the day-to-day management or not, he was the head of that firm. He was the chairman, CEO, president, and as such if you are legally responsible, you need to stand up and be responsible for the decisions that are being made.”
Stephanie Cutter Clarifies Her Comment For Wolf Blitzer: Romney Is A Liar, Not A Felon | MediaiteOn Monday, The Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer spoke with Stephenie Cutter, the Obama staffer who made headlines after floating the possibility that Mitt Romney is either a liar or a felon when it comes to explaining his timeline at Bain.
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