Presidents only defense is … well that he didnt know.
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. All the time and effort to define Mitt Romney as a shadowy rich figure who sneakily invests in dark companies overseas may have been undone during Tuesday evenings debate when Mitt Romney asked President Obama "Mr. President have you looked at your pension?" Turns out Mr.
Obama does invest in Chinese companies through a Cayman Island Trust. The
revelation could not have come at a worse time for the Obama Campaign with Election Day less than 20 days away.
Barack Obama has spent an awful long time (and a ton of campaign bucks) attempting to convince voters that Mitt Romney is an individual who dodges paying his fair share of taxes by manipulating the U.S. Tax Code.
And this has been perhaps the most important and most stressed talking point of the Obama Campaign.
So Romney continued …
Let me give you some advice. Look at your pension. You also have investments in Chinese companies.
You also have investments outside the United States. You also have investments through a Caymans trust."
Romney was referring to investments made by the Illinois State Board of Investment on behalf of the state employees retirement system.
Since Obama was an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004 he is a participant in the Illinois General Assembly Retirement System confirmed William Atwood executive director of the Board of Investment.
The pension funds holdings include an entity called Advent International. Advent describes itself as one of the worlds most global private equity firms and has buy-out offices in 16 countries.
Atwood confirmed the Pension Fund has invested $30 million in one of Advents partnerships Advent International GPE VI-A which was organized in the Cayman Islands Atwood said.
Public filings back that up.
Concerning Romneys broader claim about Obamas foreign investments?
The Illinois pension fund also has numerous foreign investments including in Chinese companies as part of its diversified portfolio Atwood said.
As a resultm the
Politifact Truth-o-Meter confirms that Romneys comments are true:
Its an accurate set of statements when you consider investments made by managers of the Illinois Pension Fund in which Obama has an account.
As we noted in reviewing previous claims about Romneys investments in China the investments involved are indirect and as far as anybody has said made without the knowledge of the account holder.
With that clarification we rate Romneys statement Mostly True.
The Presidents only defense is that … well he didnt know. Obama certainly may not have known where the investments for his
pension were based when he was in the Illinois State Senate.
However if Politifact could find out and Mitt Romney could find out then certainly Barack Obama
could find that out as well.
This is what happens when your only campaign strategy is character assassination. But its the only strategy youve got when youve got nothing else on which to run.
In fact Barack Obamas shadowy investment firm does sneakily invest in overseas Chinese companies. And his Pension Fund does so through an offshore Cayman Island trust.
