Amid of Gloria Allred’s claim that she will deliver an “October surprise” that will secure Barack Obama’s re-election, it has been revealed that the celebrity attorney spoke with the president one-on-one at a star-studded fundraiser two weeks before.
Gloria Allred caught up with Barack Obama at one point during the “30 Days to Victory” fundraiser at LA’s Nokia Theatre – an event headlined by Katy Perry, Bon Jovi, Jennifer Hudson and George Clooney.
The celebrity attorney was interviewed outside the venue by O’Reilly Factor correspondent Jesse Watters, who asked her whether she was more into the music or seeing the president.
Gloria Allred replied: “I’m a very proud supporter of President Obama. I was an elected Obama delegate to the democratic National Convention, I just had a few words with the President.”
She added: “He was very kind to me. He had some very kind words to me. And he knows of my work for women’s rights. And I of course am very appreciative of everything he has done and everything I know he will do in four years for women’s rights.”
In a jab at Barack Obama’s Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Gloria Allred said: “And it’s so essential that we re-elect President Obama because the alternative is just unthinkable.”
Meanwhile, it has been reported that Mitt Romney allegedly provided testimony in the bitter divorce of his friend and staunch advocate, ex-Staples CEO Tom Stemberg, that meant his ex-wife received a poor divorce settlement.
Gloria Allred was interviewed outside the Nokia Theatre two weeks before making her October surprise claims
Sources told TMZ that Mitt Romney, whose hedge fund, Bain Capital, was an investor in Staples before it became a household name, testified in the case that the company was worth virtually nothing and that his friend was a “dreamer”.
Mitt Romney testified during the hearings in 1988 that the company’s stock was “overvalued” and that the future did not look good. Later Mitt Romney and Tom Stemberg allegedly went to Goldman Sachs to cash in their stock for a massive payout, according to TMZ.
His bitter ex-wife Maureen Stemberg claims this testimony effected how much she got from the settlement.
It is unclear what if any lump sum she got out of the divorce, but it is known she was awarded 500,000 shares in the company. Maureen Stemberg later went on to cash in half of these before the company went public – missing out on a huge windfall as stocks soared from $2 to $19.
There is no proof so far that Mitt Romney or Tom Stemberg tried to mislead Maureen Stemberg or the court.
Mitt Romney’s lawyer Robert Jones simply said that his client had no issues with the testimony being made public.
A Secret Service agent in charge of protecting the POTUS relieved himself in full view of Barack Obama and his hundreds of supporters, who were just yards away.
The Secret Service employee, who was standing to the side of the stage where Barack Obama was addressing his Cincinnati fans, was snapped seemingly mid-flow by a photographer from Politico.
Unsurprisingly, as soon as the photograph was posted to Twitter it became a sensation. Some commentators cheekily suggested that the man was especially foolish for peeing uphill.
The Secret Service confirmed that the man was their employee and swiftly added that he was not urinating.
The agency claimed that their employee was simply following protocol and was facing away from the President to look out for any threats that may be headed his way.
The Secret Service employee, who was standing to the side of the stage where Barack Obama was addressing his Cincinnati fans, was snapped seemingly mid-flow
Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan told Politico: “There is no accuracy to the reporting associated with this photo thus far.”
Judging from the photo at the centre of the storm, the agent could have convincingly claimed that he was texting or playing a game of Angry Birds when the incriminating picture was taken.
The embarrassing incident happened while Barack Obama continued his campaign in the swing state of Ohio, where he announced a new trade enforcement action against China.
The promise to move to stop Chinese subsidies of its auto industry came four days after Romney launched an advertising campaign accusing the president of allowing American manufacturing jobs to be lost to the Asian power.
The issue hits home among working class voters in manufacturing swing states such as Ohio, where The White House says more than 850,000 jobs in the state are related to the auto industry.
Barack Obama told thousands gathered at a pavilion in Cincinnati’s leafy Eden Park that Romney made money from companies that outsourced jobs to China while running the private equity firm Bain Capital. The crowd jeered. Barack Obama responded: “Don’t boo. Vote!”
“You can’t stand up to China when all you’ve done is sent them our jobs,” Barack Obama said.
“You can talk a good game. But I like to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. And my experience has been waking up every single day doing everything I can to make sure that American workers get a fair shot in the global economy.”
Barack Obama’s re-election campaign has released a new ad seeking to undercut Republican rival Mitt Romney’s record on jobs.
The new video features former workers of a steel plant that was bought and later shut down by Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Mitt Romney.
“It was like a vampire. They came in and sucked the life out of us,” one former GST Steel employee says.
Mitt Romney has repeatedly attacked the president for failing to create jobs.
The former Massachusetts governor’s business credentials are seen as a core part of his campaign message.
The two minute-long negative ad is set to be broadcast in five battleground states – Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado.
Barack Obama’s ad features former workers of a steel plant that was bought and later shut down by Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Mitt Romney
The campaign also issued a six-minute online-only version and launched a website specifically aimed at criticizing Mitt Romney’s record.
Barack Obama’s political allies and surrogates are also expected to denounce Mitt Romney’s track record as a private equity executive at a series of campaign events.
The new ad echoes a theme used earlier in the year by a group supporting former presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich.
A half-hour video called When Mitt Romney Came To Town, which appeared in January at the height of the primary battle, portrayed Mitt Romney as a “corporate raider” who destroyed thousands of jobs while amassing large profits.
At the time Newt Gingrich was criticized by members of the Republican establishment, who described the video as “anti-capitalist”.
After the release of the Obama campaign’s latest ad, the Romney campaign said it welcomed the president’s efforts to focus debate on jobs.
“If the Obama administration was less concerned with pleasing its wealthy donors and more concerned with creating jobs, America would be much better off,” Mitt Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement.
The campaign ad wars are beginning to heat up as the Obama and Romney campaigns embark on the six-month march towards November’s presidential election.
On Sunday both teams released videos marking Mother’s Day, and the fundraising committee Crossroads Generation, which supports Mitt Romney, released a campaign video focusing on the problem of growing student debt.
The Crossroads video is an effort by Republicans to engage younger voters, many of whom back Barack Obama in 2008.
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