Gingrich still believes Romney 'said things at times that weren’t true'

Newt Gingrich on Thursday repeated an accusation that President Obama’s campaign has used to attack Mitt Romney, confirming that he still believes Romney has been dishonest in his campaign.

“I still believe that the Romney campaign said things that they knew weren’t true,” he told CNN. “Gov. Romney said things at times that weren’t true. … I also believe that compared to Barack Obama, I would trust Mitt Romney a hundred times over.”

The interview took place the day after Gingrich officially suspended his bid for the White House on Wednesday and endorsed Romney as the GOP nominee.

Gingrich’s past attacks on Romney were used this week in a web video by the Obama campaign, including a clip from a January interview with CBS’s "The Early Show” when Gingrich answered, “yes” when asked point-blank if he was calling Romney a “liar.”

Gingrich this week offered Romney only faint praise, pointing out for a second time that there is no Ronald Reagan option in the race. He said Thursday that Romney is the “one choice.”

Gingrich promised CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he would campaign for Romney, but said no dates have been set yet with the campaign.

“I've met with his campaign manager,” he said. “We're coordinating with his policy team.”

Gingrich went on to explain that he believes the biggest mistake he made in his own campaign was not ignoring the day-to-day “in fighting” on the campaign trail in favor of running an “ideal-oriented” campaign.

“The more visionary I was, the better we were doing, including being the frontrunner in December,” Gingrich said. Gingrich quickly faded in the polls after he won the primary in South Carolina in January, and never recovered his standing. He blamed getting “sucked into the daily politics” for making his campaign “weak.”

He also blamed the “traditional consultants” he hired for wanting to run 30-second attack ads and raise money, and partially excused his own downfall by acknowledging that Romney had “six years” to build his presidential campaign, counting his 2008 bid for the nomination.

Gingrich also weighed in on who should be on Romney’s choice for running mate, suggesting that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) should all be on the short list.

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