Obama tweets attack at Romney over financial disclosure

President Obama attacked Mitt Romney for the first time by name in a speech he gave Tuesday critical of the House GOP budget plan. But the president took his first shot at his presumptive rival on Twitter Thursday, breaking new ground in the art of the presidential swipe.

So what's Romney hiding? Tweet @MittRomney to demand he release his tax returns. #WhatsRomneyHiding

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 5, 2012

The Obama campaign has been hammering Romney's use of a "loophole" in financial disclosure laws that allows him to shield some of his financial holdings from public view, revealed in a Thursday article by The Washington Post. The article says that "by offering a limited description of his assets, Romney has made it difficult to know precisely where his money is invested, whether it is offshore or in controversial companies, or whether those holdings could affect his policies or present any conflicts of interest."

“Mitt Romney has put his personal financial assets in a black box and hid the key attempting to play by a different set of rules than any candidate in recent history,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement. “In fact, Mitt Romney’s own father released 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president. President Bush released his tax returns dating back to 1991. And President Obama released his returns dating back to 2000 when he ran for president.”

Obama's campaign team is hoping that the issue might earn traction against Romney, much in the way that his primary opponent, Newt Gingrich, was able to gain ground in South Carolina by hammering the former governor's refusal to release his tax returns.

“Mitt Romney has asked Americans to elect him President based on his experience as a corporate buyout specialist,” Messina's statement continued. “Each week, new questions are raised about whether he took unusual steps to avoid paying his fair share in taxes. Today’s report suggests that Governor Romney is exploiting a loophole in order to shield his assets and investments from public review.”

But the Romney campaign points out that he has fully complied with every reporting requirement of the Office of Government Ethics, and accused the Obama campaign of trying to distract from his own record.

“President Obama will do anything to try and distract Americans from his failed record of chronic unemployment, lower incomes and higher gas prices,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. “The Personal Financial Disclosure completely and accurately describes Governor Romney’s assets as required by the law applicable to candidates for president. If OGE had at any point considered any part of the filing insufficient, it would have made this clear."

—Jonathan Easley contributed to this article.

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