White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that President Obama hasn’t expressed an opinion to him on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) persistent claims that Mitt Romney didn’t pay taxes for a decade.
Asked repeatedly at his daily briefing, Carney said Reid “certainly speaks for himself” and referred additional questions to the Democratic leader’s office. He said Obama believes in the tradition of presidential hopefuls releasing a series of tax returns to the public.
Republicans have aggressively pushed back and called Reid a liar, noting that he has not yet provided evidence. Obama campaign officials and top Democrats have stood by Reid’s claim — he says he learned of it from an as-yet-unnamed Bain Capital investor.
