Obama says Romney should answer questions about Bain Capital
As Mitt Romney prepared for a series of network television interviews, President Obama said Friday that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee should answer questions about his tenure at Bain Capital.
“Now, my understanding is that Mr. Romney attested to the SEC, multiple times, that he was the chairman, CEO and president of Bain Capital, and I think most Americans figure if you are the chairman, CEO and president of a company that you are responsible for what that company does,” Obama said in an interview with WJLA, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C.
The interview, one of several Obama did with local television reporters Friday, were not scheduled to air until the weekend, but after word that Romney would be appearing Friday evening on each of the major television news networks, the Obama campaign released a portion of the transcript of the interview with WJLA reporter Scott Thuman.
Obama’s remarks were part of a concerted effort by his campaign to focus attention on the question of when Romney actually left the private equity firm he founded and whether he had inaccurately reported that information in filings with federal agencies.
Romney has long maintained that he had no “active” role in Bain or any hand in its operations after he left in 1999 to run the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. But as late as 2002, Bain filed forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission in which he is described as the “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president.” The controversy took form this week after the Boston Globe and others reported on those filings.
Obama’s campaign officials have argued that the date matters because Romney has insisted he was not responsible for bankruptcies and outsourcing of jobs by firms Bain owned in the early 2000s. In his interview, Obama stepped up the pressure on that issue.
“Ultimately Mr. Romney, I think, is going to have to answer those questions, because if he aspires to being president one of the things you learn is, you are ultimately responsible for the conduct of your operations,” Obama said.
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