Obama campaign hammers Romney over new Bain report

President Obama's campaign looked to again focus attention on Mitt Romney's tenure at Bain Capital on Wednesday, highlighting a new report by the Associated Press that shows the presumptive Republican nominee continued to have regular contact with his partners in the firm after his 1999 departure date.

The AP found that Romney held several meetings with his partners in Boston, but the content was "limited to matters that did not affect the firm's investments or other management decisions." At the same time, Romney did work personally to tend to his ownership stake in the company, and approved corporate and legal documents through 2001.

"Governor Romney has stated flatly that he left Bain Capital in 1999, but an Associated Press report today makes clear he did not leave when he says he did," said Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt in a statement. "Not only did he remain CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board, but he continued to attend meetings with his partners … Mitt Romney’s explanations about his continued involvement at Bain have shifted all over the place. But what hasn’t changed is his unwillingness to take any responsibility for the American jobs that were outsourced and lost under his leadership, both before and after 1999.”

The Romney campaign said Monday that the report did not contain any new information, and contended that it did not undermine in any way Romney's assertions that he was not involved in Bain investments with firms that outsourced.

"Nothing new was presented in the article that has not already been reported," said Romney spokeswoman Amanda Hennenberg. "In fact, the story just confirms what we already know: Mitt Romney left Bain Capital in February 1999 to save a troubled Utah Olympics, and was no longer involved in the management of that business or the investment decisions that occurred after that date. This is just another false attack to distract voters from President Obama’s failed economic record."

The Obama team is hoping the report will reignite questions about Romney's ties to the investment firm. In campaign ads and speeches, the president has accused his Republican challenger of overseeing the offshoring of American jobs during his tenure at the company. But the Romney campaign has maintained that investments in firms involved in offshoring occurred after their candidate's time heading the company — a notion supported by many independent fact checkers.

During an interview Monday with CNBC, Romney defended his time at the company, saying he was "pretty proud of" his record there.

"I hope people understand that I was investing other people's money for them and was compensated if we were highly successful," Romney said. "And the returns came to groups that included charities and college endowments. Those are the people who received the greatest rewards from our successes. We were also able -- I saw a report by the current partners of Bain Capital over the history of the firm, which I helped start, they made some 350 investments, 80 percent of which grew. That's the kind of record which I'm pretty proud of."

This story was updated at 2:30 p.m.

---