The full audio isn't online yet, but Radio Iowa had a phone interview with Mitt Romney today and he apparently denied knowledge of his offshore investments, claiming that because they are in a blind trust, he doesn't know anything about them.
Romney re: off-shore investments – they’re in a blind trust. “I don’t manage them. I don’t even know where they are,” he says.
— @okayhenderson via tweetymail
There are still more questions than answers, but these occur to me:
- Did Mitt Romney have any of these offshore investments before he put his holdings into a blind trust? If so, that would expose his statement today as a clear effort at misleading the public.
- Will Mitt Romney release records proving that he didn't have any offshore accounts or investments prior to the establishment of his trust?
- If Mitt Romney is telling the truth and even he doesn't know about his own investments, isn't that all the more reason he should lift the veil of secrecy?
- Mitt Romney may call it a blind trust, but does that mean that he has no involvement in it? The trust is run by one of his closest friends and colleagues and has invested millions in his family's businesses.
And of course there remains the big question: What is Mitt Romney hiding and why is he hiding it? He's going to need to release these documents sooner or later. The longer it takes him to do so, the harder it will be to analyze them before the election. Then again, maybe that's the whole point.