President Obama's campaign is hitting Mitt Romney hard over what it characterizes as his questionable finances.
The campaign released a new Web video on Thursday featuring man-on-the-street interviews where people were asked, "Do you have an offshore bank account?"
The video has a double purpose: highlighting Romney's personal wealth and seeking to raise questions about whether he is hiding something about his finances from the American people.
"I don't have a problem with people making tons of money, but there are questions that are raised by why are you keeping your money offshore, right?" says one woman interviewed. "Where there's smoke, there's fire, right?"
The video claims to be "in honor of Independence Day."
Earlier this week, the campaign blasted out a Vanity Fair article it claimed raised "important questions" about Romney's offshore finances. The article details a number of tactics employed by Romney's financial managers, including the formation of a corporation in Bermuda owned by Romney and holdings in funds organized in the Cayman Islands.
Another piece from The Associated Press on Thursday followed up on the previous report in questioning why the Bermuda corporation was not listed on any of Romney's state or federal financial reports.
According to the campaign, the AP story proves Romney was looking "to avoid disclosure" of the "mysterious corporation."
"In fact, he left this entity off of seven different personal financial disclosure statements he was required to file under state and federal law since 2001," Obama for America National Press Secretary Ben LaBolt said in a statement. "We already know about Romney’s $3 million Swiss bank account and millions of dollars of investments in foreign tax havens like the Cayman Islands. Bermuda does not tax corporate income or capital gains. Until Romney releases additional years of tax returns, the American people will never know whether he created this shell corporation to intentionally avoid paying U.S. taxes. What is Mitt Romney trying to hide?”
Romney's campaign has said the president's campaign is attempting to distract from Obama's record with "false" attacks on Romney's finances. It maintains that Romney has "completely and accurately" disclosed his holdings and always paid the necessary and relevant taxes on his earnings.
Justin Sink contributed.
