Mitt Romney submitted himself to some rare network interviews on Friday the 13th (mwahahahahaha), and forgot what he said, under oath, in 2002 to the MA Elections Board, to prove that he really was a resident of that state and qualified to run for governor, even though he had been living in UT for the previous three years.
He had a completely different answer to the same question when asked by Jan Crawford in his interview with CBS. Here is what he said on network TV in response to Crawford's questions about his tenure with Bain.
And I left Bain in February of 1999. People can point out how - I was in Salt Lake City for three straight years. I don't recall even coming back once to go to a Bain or management meeting. We were, I was out there running the Olympics and it was a full time job, I can tell you that.
So he never went to any meetings. But in 2002, under oath, he said
otherwise.
Romney has consistently insisted that he was too busy organizing the 2002 Winter Olympics to take part in Bain business between 1999 and that event. But in the testimony, which was provided to The Huffington Post, Romney noted that he regularly traveled back to Massachusetts. "[T]here were a number of social trips and business trips that brought me back to Massachusetts, board meetings, Thanksgiving and so forth," he said.
Romney's sworn testimony was given as part of a hearing to determine whether he had sufficient residency status in Massachusetts to run for governor.
Romney testified that he "remained on the board of the Staples Corporation and Marriott International, the LifeLike Corporation" at the time.
Yet in the Aug. 12, 2011, federal disclosure form filed as part of his presidential bid, he said, "Mr. Romney retired from Bain Capital on February 11, 1999 to head the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Since February 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way."
Bain, a private equity firm, held a stake in the LifeLike Co. until the end of 2001, including during the period in which Romney claimed to have no business involvement with Bain entities. Bain had heavily invested in LifeLike, a company that Romney identified personally as an opportunity, in 1996 and sold its shares in late 2001. His involvement with LifeLike contradicts his assertion that he had no involvement with Bain business. His testimony is supported by his 2001 Massachusetts State Ethics Commission filing, in which he lists himself as a member of LifeLike's board.
The only way this can be true is if you can '
believe' that going to a board meeting of a company which Bain has a stake in, is not a 'Bain meeting' or a 'management meeting'. Splitting that hair very finely.
Furthermore in his federal disclosure form (above) he testified that he retired from Bain in February of 1999. Yet in yesterday's interview he said he retired in 2002.
I left the business and went off to run the Olympics, did that full time and after three years, when the Olympics were over, we arranged my departure officially from a retirement standpoint.
So he 'retired' in 1999, but didn't leave 'officially' from a 'retirement standpoint' until 2002. That is splitting a hair to a micron.
This is what happens when you say anything, that you think will benefit you right at that moment, and no longer can keep your lies straight. Ten years is certainly a long time to have to remember a lie. Any real journalist would have pounced on this and questioned Romney. But Crawford let that opportunity slip away and gave Romney a pass.
It really could not get much clearer than this.