Romney Advisor Ed Gillespie To Candy Crowley: Romney 'Retired Retroactively' From Bain

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Romney campaign advisor Ed Gillespie sat down with Candy Crowley on CNN's State of the Union today to defend Mitt Romney from attacks over his tenure at Bain Capital from President Obama's campaign. He explained that Romney's name may have been on a few documents, but he took a leave of absence to focus on the Olympics and when he didn't return to Bain, he 'retired retroactively.'

RELATED: Bob Schieffer Confronts Obama Staffer Who Said Romney Either Lied Or May Have Committed Felony

Gillespie said he couldn't believe Romney was actually being accused of criminal activity by an Obama staffer, and attacked the president for being willing to 'say or do anything' in order to stay in power. Crowley told Gillespie that doesn't mean Romney's tenure at Bain isn't incredibly confusing, asking him why there is a discrepancy between Romney's public statements and information in the SEC filings. Gillespie said that Romney was devoting his time after 1999 to preparing for the 2002 Olympics.

'Because of Mitt Romney's leadership skills, he was called on to do it, and he ended up not going back at all and retired retroactively to February of 1999 as a result.'

Even though Romney's name was still on subsequent filings, Gillespie made it clear Romney was not involved in management or the day-to-day proceedings of the business, and blasted Obama's 'Chicago-style politics' for trying to make the whole thing seem 'sinister' and into a huge distraction in the middle of the campaign.

Crowley ended by asking Gillespie about why, if there's nothing to hide, the Romney campaign hasn't released more tax returns. Gillespie said that the campaign has been fully compliant with the law on financial disclosure and the only way the Obama campaign has been able to lob some of its financial attacks against Romney is due to what's already been released.

Watch the video below, courtesy of CNN:

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• Of course he did. If he walked away from a business which represented a significant portion of his wealth and never looked back, he is a fool. So the million dollar question is: Mittens how much input did you have from 1999-2002?

• 'Retroactively'

  This is too big a word for liberal blooters.

• 'Gillespie said he couldn't believe Romney was actually being accused of criminal activity by an Obama staffer.'

  That is a misrepresentation of what Cutter said. She said that Mitt either committed a crime, or was lying to the American people about his real involvement in Bain (and thus his responsibility for post 1999 Bain outsourcing and company closing activities that Mitt claims he had absolutely nothing to do with.) In fact, as just about everyone by this time suspects, the latter is true.

• Is retroactively retiring the same as self-deportation?

• Awesome! Dig the hole deeper.

• Liberals are children. Nasty ones.

  They can be 22 or 72. They don't grow up or mature.

  They prefer to attack viciously and personally anyone or anything that upsets their little red wagon.

  Now one of them is president and will likely be tossed out. Americans were fooled once by this guy. Not going to happen again.

• But that is the hole that Mitt has dug himself. He claims he had absolutely nothing to do with Bain or its affiliates after February 1999. In that way, he sought to distance himself from any responsibility for a few post 1999 Bain plant closings and oursourcings. Had he just taken responsibility for those during his run for governor in 2002, or his run for President in 2008, or his current run for President in 2012, then he would not be in that hole.

• Outraged'.Mitt is outraged'.Romney cannot show his tax returns because he may, in 2008, have taken deductions for the $50 mil he spent on his campaign'.Only someone arrogant and in a bubble would have believed that issues such as Bain and offshore accounts would not be an issue'

• Nope, just another lie''''birther boy.