One of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's top aides let slip some information on Reid's source to his "Romney hasn't paid taxes in a decade" charge, but it was only a matter of time before he backtracked on all the juicy information he gave up.
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Reid aide Jose Parra gave an interview to Mario Solis-Marich on KTLK’s Diverse LA program, during which he revealed that Harry Reid's Bain investor source was a Republican, and a long-term investor with Bain. You can hear the most important quotes in this audio clip that the show provided to The Huffington Post. Or you can read them here:
“This person is an investor in Bain Capital, a Republican also, and somebody who has been dealing with Romney’s company for a long, long time, and he has direct knowledge of this,” said Reid aide Jose Parra, referring to Romney’s tax returns.
We don't know what happened in between the show's air time and about 7 p.m. Thursday, but Parra e-mailed Huff Po and backtracked all of the new information he offered during his interview:
"I do not know the party affiliation of the source, how long he invested with Bain, or his relationship to Romney beyond the fact that he was an investor with Bain Capital, as Senator Reid has previously stated."
We have two theories as to what happened. Parra gave up information he picked up around the office that is true but that Reid didn't want leaked to the press, not yet, so someone called him, read him the riot act, and got him to "clarify" his statement. Or, Parra doesn't know who the source is and accidentally added some extra color to his description, and it may or may not be true, but he was called, read the riot act, and forced to "clarify" his statement. Either way, Parra probably got yelled at.
A quick recap: Reid said a Bain investor told him Romney hasn't paid taxes for 10 years. Romney called for Reid to "put up or shut up" and release his source, and Reid said his source was "extremely credible," and that Romney should just release his taxes. So, is it true that it was a long-term investing Republican? Maybe, but maybe not.