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The much-hyped release of Mitt Romney’s testimony in the divorce of the former Staples CEO this afternoon has failed to deliver the October Surprise knock-out blow to Romney’s campaign, as promised by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred.
Mitt Romney said during the 1991 hearings that in Staples’ early days, its initial stores performed “far behind our expectations”. He said friends told him that Staples was “a hard place to shop” and employees were “surly”.
However, during his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney has described Staples as a “great American success story” and has taken credit for its growth to a mega-firm employing nearly 90,000 workers.
Tom Stemberg was one of the speakers who praised Mitt Romney last August at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.
The transcripts of his evidence run to more than 300 pages of complicated financial questioning and will surely be scrutinized in the next few days. Yet there is apparently nothing to damn the Republican rival, or instantly back up the claims of Gloria Allred or the ex-wife of Staples founder, Tom Stemberg, that Mitt Romney gave misleading evidence to ensure she could not win a better settlement.
Under a plan approved by Mitt Romney and other board members in 1988, Maureen Sullivan Stemberg was given 500,000 shares of Staples common stock, then awarded a special “D” class of stock in exchange for those shares. Maureen Sullivan Stemberg sold about half of the shares only to learn that those sold holdings would have been valued higher in a 1989 public offering of Staples stock.
In testimony Mitt Romney said he backed the deal to give Tom Stemberg’s wife a special class of stock “as a favor to Tom. It was something that was done in my opinion, it was initiated as a favor. Tom needed to have a settlement with his wife so that was the genesis of it”.
But Mitt Romney insisted the board’s decision was made “in the best interests of the company’s shareholders”.
Gloria Allred’s October Surprise fails to deliver killer blow to Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney acknowledged at the time that there were no other cases in which a separate class of securities was created for the benefit of one individual. He also said that as an investor through Bain, he had never seen that kind of a device used before.
At first, his venture capital firm Bain, an early investor in Staples, was so underwhelmed by the firm’s performance that it did not plough as much money into the firm as it could have.
Mitt Romney said the initial investment in Staples was $1.5 million and valued the shares at $1.50 to $2 right up until early 1988. The court noted Maureen Sullivan Stemberg negotiated a sale of her shares at $2.25 to $2.48.
“In my opinion that’s a good price to sell the securities at,” Mitt Romney said, according to the transcript.
And, at the end of his three days of testimony, Mitt Romney was asked about his own chance to buy Staples stock before the float – and whether he bought the entire amount he was allowed to.
Crucially Mitt Romney said he did not as he believed there was a chance the company could fail.
A source told the Washington Examiner: “This disproves the Allred allegation completely. He put his money where his mouth was.”
The documents do, however, reveal the close relationship of Tom Stemberg and Mitt Romney, who testifies that he had lunch with the Staples CEO on the day of the hearing.
Mitt Romney added that he doubted the future success of the office supply stores and only created one class of shares as a “favor” to Tom Stemberg because he “needed a settlement with his wife”.
The testimony was unsealed in a Canton, Massachusetts court on Thursday after attorneys – including for Tom Stemberg and Mitt Romney – did not object to their release.
Attorney Gloria Allred has won her battle to have Mitt Romney’s sworn testimony in the bitter divorce of the ex-Staples CEO released to the public – in what is claimed could provide a damaging blow to his campaign.
The Boston Globe filed the application to unseal the records and lift a gagging order on all parties involved after receiving a tip-off that there was “juicy information about Romney” in the documents.
There have been claims that Mitt Romney’s 1991 testimony that Staples’ stock were “overvalued” meant Maureen Stemberg received a poor settlement in the divorce from the company’s former CEO Tom Stemberg.
But Mitt Romney’s lawyer said he would happily allow the court transcripts to be released, leaving them to be left open to interpretation. The documents have yet to be seen by the press.
Gloria Allred, a staunch Barack Obama supporter who promised an “October surprise” for Mitt Romney, arrived at the court in Canton, Massachusetts on Thursday morning with Maureen Sullivan Stemberg, 61.
She demanded a gagging order against her client be lifted so she could speak about Mitt Romney’s conduct through her divorce proceedings, which dragged on between 1987 and 2002.
“She is apparently the only person in the United States of America – perhaps the world – who cannot speak about Governor Romney,” Gloria Allred said.
“She needs to be able to speak.”
Gloria Allred argued that Maureen Stemberg is “denied her first amendment right” by the court in the “most comprehensive gag order I have ever seen in my 36 years of law”.
Judge Jennifer Ulwick responded that Maureen Stemberg should file her own modification to the gagging order, rather than it be dealt with today, meaning she cannot yet speak out.
The Boston Globe agreed to drop its bid for the dismissal of the gagging order in exchange for the release of Mitt Romney’s testimony.
On Wednesday, sources close to the case claimed that Mitt Romney’s testimony in 1991 meant Maureen Stemberg received a poor divorce payout.
TMZ reported 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.
Mitt Romney said in the hearings that the company’s stock was “overvalued” and that the future did not look good. Later Mitt Romney and Tom Stemberg allegedly cashed in their stock for a huge payout, according to TMZ.
His bitter ex-wife claims this testimony affected how much she got from the settlement.
Gloria Allred with her client Maureen Sullivan Stemberg
Maureen Stemberg was awarded 500,000 shares in the company and later went on to cash in half of these before the company went public – missing out on a huge windfall as stocks soared from $2.25 to $19.
Bain Capital’s $2.5 million investment in Staples turned into a $13 million profit, and Mitt Romney’s decision to back in the company helped secure his reputation as a successful investor.
There is no proof so far that Mitt Romney or Tom Stemberg tried to mislead Maureen Stemberg or the court, and their lawyers said they had no objections to the release of Romney’s testimony.
In court on Wednesday, Jon Albano, the attorney for the Boston Globe, confirmed that the case revolves around Mitt Romney’s 20-year-old financial testimony and his “expert investment advice”.
The court appearances come as a string of online messages have surfaced from a commenter claiming to be Maureen Stemberg, in which she unleashes a scathing attack on Mitt Romney and promises all “will very soon be revealed” – in a possible nod to Gloria Allred’s campaign.
She also refers witheringly to his wife as “Queen Ann” and lambasts both as out of touch.
In a series of unashamedly pro-Obama comments on the Huffington Post, a woman calling herself Maureen Stemberg writes: “He had a lot of bodies hidden in his <<personal and business life>>. Will very soon be revealed. When the door opens he and his team will be heading for the hills. Scary group.”
She claims she was married to “his partner in crime, Mr. Staples” – a close friend and advocate of Mitt Romney – and brands the presidential hopeful “deplorable”.
The self-confessed Barack Obama supporter also describes a time the Romney attended their house for a Christmas party and “tried very hard to be real”.
“I truly do believe he has a fear and dislike for anyone who has less than 99,000,000 [dollars],” she wrote.
“He just can’t relate and obviously Queen Ann is the same.”
A Globe article in 2006 described Maureen Stemberg as living a comfortable lifestyle while demanding that her ex-husband pay her more money.
She “sits in her $5,200 a month, 14th-floor, concierge-at-the-door, elegantly furnished Back Bay apartment and tells you she’s broke”, it wrote.
“She can’t work. She can’t afford a car, her medications, her rent, even the family springer spaniel, J.J., who she just gave away.”
“I’m going to be out on the street,” she said.
“I’ve had a change of circumstances.”
Maureen Stemberg now works as an interior designer based in Charlestown, Massachusetts and has had a couple of reportedly on-off relationships since her divorce.
The online messages and interviews apparently reveal her enduring bitterness about her husband and their divorce, and Mitt Romney’s part in it.
She even featured in a 2008 Lifetime documentary, The Maureen Sullivan Stemberg Story: A Portrait in Courage, in which she gave an “in-depth account … of the interweaving relationships and strange bedfellow that business has made in her life… which include Mitt Romney”.
Polls show Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are neck-and-neck two weeks ahead of the election and Gloria Allred’s claims may be perceived as the latest round in a tit-for-tat battle between supporters of the two candidates.
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.
Mitt Romney’s character will be called into question if explosive details of his sworn testimony at the divorce hearing of former Staples CEO Tom Stemberg are released to the public, it has been claimed.
Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who has promised an “October surprise”, is in court in Canton, Massachusetts, today with Tom Stemberg’s ex-wife to reportedly attempt to unseal the case records and lift a gagging order on all parties involved.
The Boston Globe newspaper filed the application after reportedly receiving a tip-off that there was “juicy information about Romney” in the sealed documents. The revelations are said to involve allegations about a child custody matter.
At the hearing, Gloria Allred presented Mitt Romney and Tom Stemberg’s attorneys with copies of the presidential candidate’s testimony. They asked for time to review the documents before they decide whether to argue against releasing them, according to a CBS reporter in court.
But earlier today Mitt Romney’s lawyer Robert Jones told Time magazine that his client had no issues with the testimony being made public.
“This is a decades-old divorce case in which Mitt Romney provided testimony as to the value of a company,” he said.
“He has no objection to letting the public see that testimony.”
The court appearance comes as a string of online messages have surfaced from a commenter claiming to be Maureen Stemberg, 61, in which she unleashes a scathing attack on Mitt Romney and promises all “will very soon be revealed” – in a possible nod to Gloria Allred’s campaign.
She also refers witheringly to his wife as “Queen Ann” and lambasts both as out of touch.
In a series of unashamedly pro-Obama comments on the Huffington Post, a woman calling herself Maureen Stemberg writes: “He had a lot of bodies hidden in his <<personal and business life>>. Will very soon be revealed. When the door opens he and his team will be heading for the hills. Scary group.”
She claims she was married to “his partner in crime, Mr. Staples” – a close friend and advocate of Mitt Romney – and brands the presidential hopeful “deplorable”.
Mitt Romney reportedly testified about Tom Stemberg’s role as a father to his four sons from two ex-wives during court proceedings surrounding his “messy” divorce from Maureen in 1987.
RadarOnline.com quoted a source as saying: “Governor Mitt Romney gave sworn testimony about his observations of Tom’s role as a father to his four sons.”
And Maureen Stemberg apparently remains extremely bitter about his part in her divorce, posting last month: “I know the man and his wife. President Obama the only one to be our President!”
Maureen Stemberg also describes a time the Romney attended their house for a Christmas party and “tried very hard to be real”.
“I truly do believe he has a fear and dislike for anyone who has less than 99,000,000 [dollars],” she wrote.
“He just can’t relate and obviously Queen Ann is the same.”
A 2005 Boston Globe article reported that Maureen Stemberg received nearly 500,000 shares of Staples stock in the divorce, but sold half before the company went public, missing out on a huge windfall.
And while another Globe article the following year described her as living a comfortable lifestyle, she demanded that her ex-husband pay her more money.
Maureen Stemberg “sits in her $5,200 a month, 14th-floor, concierge-at-the-door, elegantly furnished Back Bay apartment and tells you she’s broke”, it wrote.
“She can’t work. She can’t afford a car, her medications, her rent, even the family springer spaniel, J.J., who she just gave away.”
“I’m going to be out on the street,” she said.
“I’ve had a change of circumstances.”
She now works as an interior designer based in Charelstown, Massachusetts and has had a couple of reportedly on-off relationships since her divorce.
The online messages and interviews apparently reveal her enduring bitterness about her husband and their divorce – and Mitt Romney’s part in it.
Maureen Stemberg even featured in a 2008 Lifetime documentary, The Maureen Sullivan Stemberg Story: A Portrait in Courage, in which she gave an “in-depth account … of the interweaving relationships and strange bedfellow that business has made in her life… which include Mitt Romney”.
Recent polls show Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are neck-and-neck two weeks ahead of the election and Gloria Allred’s claims may be perceived as the latest round in a tit-for-tat battle between supporters of the two candidates.
Tom Stemberg’s sons are in their mid-teens and early twenties. His divorce attorney, Joel Kozel is also expected to attend today’s hearing. It is not known whether Mitt Romney will attend.
Another source quoted on the RadarOnline said: “Ms. Allred’s client feels that the public needs to know about Governor Mitt Romney’s role in this very important case.
“Governor Romney is running for President of the United States and this goes to a very important character issue.”
Tom Stemberg, 63, has four sons from his two ex-wives, Maureen Sullivan Stemberg and Dola Hamilton Stemberg.
But the Globe reported on his “paternal shortcomings” in 2006, recounting a story about how, when Tom Stemberg lived with his second wife and their young children, he cut out his then 12-year-old son, Mac, with his wife Maureen.
It explains that he wrote to the boy: “It will not be possible for you to be part of our family in the foreseeable future,” because of the child’s supposed misbehavior during their divorce blaming the child for taking sides between parents and creating unbearable hassles, such as monthly court appearances.
Tom Stemberg’s links to the Presidential candidate are well documented. Mitt Romney’s hedge fund, Bain Capital, was an early investor in Staples.
Mitt Romney was a director of the firm for over a decade and some 90,000 of the 100,000 private sector jobs he has boasted of creating are through stationary retailer.
During a speech given at the Republican National Convention last summer Stemberg praised the Massachusetts Governor saying: “He never looked at Staples as merely a financial investment.
“He saw the engine of prosperity it could become. Today Staples employs nearly 90,000 people.
“It has over 2,000 stores, over 50 distribution centers, and it is part of a competitive industry that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses get started on their own.”
And during an interview with PBS’ Frontline earlier this year Tom Stemberg described his first meeting with Mitt Romney.
He said: “When you first walked in and saw Mitt, he looked like a guy who ought to be president of the United States.
“This guy, he looked perfect; he dressed perfect; he spoke perfectly. He asked the most poignant questions in a very, very nice way and didn’t make you feel defensive and really drew the best or worst out of you. He was just really, really good.”
Tom Stemberg described Mitt Romney as being “no shrinking violet” and said he hadn’t been concerned when his friend entering politics running for governor of Massachusetts.
“Nobody pushes Mitt Romney around. Having said that, if there’s one person whom he will almost always defer to, it’s Ann Romney,” he added.
Conservative blogger Matt Drudge fuelled talk last week that Gloria Allred was up to something when he tweeted: “Here she comes. Hearing Gloria Allred out there again, about to make a move. After all, it’s her time of the campaign. Team O at the ready!!”
Several news organizations had speculated that the case could involve Mormon women whom Mitt Romney advised on family matters while he was bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Gloria Allred has a long history of trotting out female clients who claim to have revealing and damaging stories about high-profile men.
One of Gloria Allred’s most famous clients includes a woman who accused former Tea Party presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual assault.
Another famous client includes a woman who claimed California GOP candidate Meg Whitman knowingly employed her as an illegal immigrant housekeeper.
Some conservative bloggers appear concerned about what Gloria Allred might expose.
The New York conservative blog, The Red Side of Life, demanded Mitt Romney supporters “stop her now”, adding “we’re doing too well to risk an Allred”.
“Gloria Allred Prepares Anti-Mitt Strike You Can STOP Her Now! (action!) Don’t underestimate Gloria Allred’s ability to inflict damage,” the website reads.
Donald Trump announced today that he has a gigantic bombshell about President Barack Obama that he will reveal on Wednesday.
Donald Trump told Fox & Friends this morning that he had “something very, very big concerning the president of the United States”.
“It’s going to be very big. I know one thing- you will cover it in a very big fashion,” he added.
Donald Trump wasn’t giving away any clues, however, but only went on to say that it could “possibly” play a role in the election.
The billionaire said he is waiting to Tweet the “large, bordering on gigantic <<news>> sometime probably Wednesday”.
Donald Trump has been one of the most outspoken critics of President Barack Obama and has also threatened to run against him.
He has also toured New Hampshire and said very clearly that he was seriously contemplating a presidential run.
Later he became something of a political touchstone for the various Republican candidates and eventually endorsed Mitt Romney.
Donald Trump has been extremely vocal as a so-called birther conspiracy theorist, claiming that Barack Obama was born outside of the United States making him unable to run for President.
He believes that his Hawaiian birth certificate is fake or non-existent.
In April 2011, Donald Trump announced that he paid to have a team of investigators to Hawaii to truly delve into the issue.
In response, Barack Obama released the long form edition of his birth certificate after spending years refusing to do so.
“Normally, I would not comment on something like this…I’ve got other things to do,” Barack Obama said at the time.
This is the second time in as many months that Donald Trump has said that he has a big surprise that would be damaging to the President, though the last time he said so – in the days leading up to the Republican National Convention – nothing came of it.
Donald Trump’s announcement comes the same day as another surprise: a mysterious website called “The October Surprise” says that it will release documents at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
Very little is known about the creators of the site, the type of documents that they are referring to, or even their intended target.
The Twitter bio for the site simply reads: “One of your presidential candidates isn’t being honest with you. Stay tuned to find out which one it is.”
The big reveal will take place just hours before the third and final debate which is dedicated to foreign policy. As a result, spectators believe that the documents- which allegedly are muzzed and used as the picture on The October surprise sites- relate to a foreign issue.
“We can’t predict media/campaign reaction, but the content is irrefutable,” the creators wrote to one Twitter inquiry.
Sensing a playful competition between the two reveals, The October Surprise tweeted at Donald Trump, saying that they beat him by making a big announcement. There is no telling if the two announcements are related in any way.
While The October Surprise is keeping both candidates in the dark, Donald Trump was not as impartial.
The billionaire businessman-turned-reality star and Barack Obama have a barbed relationship on both sides. Donald Trump repeatedly called Barack Obama “the worst president ever”, and Obama referred to Trump as a “carnival barker” once he released the long form birth certificate.
Barack Obama also spent a portion of his speech at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner in April 2011 taking jabs at Donald Trump.
“Now, I know that he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald,” Barack Obama said in the speech.
“And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter – like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”
Over the past year, Donald Trump’s birther rhetoric has died down significantly and he has focused his attention to the Republican primary race, eventually supporting Mitt Romney’s bid.
Though his endorsement came in May, the latest endorsement from the Trump clan came just three days ago. Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka is married to Jared Kushner, the owner of The New York Observer. While there was no mention of the paper’s ties to the real estate mogul, it did surprise some to see the paper reverse it’s 2008 endorsement of Barack Obama and come out in favor of Mitt Romney just three days ago.
