Romney: 47% Believe ‘They Are Victims’ Entitled To Health Care, Food, Housing
Mitt Romney in this video tells a group of about 30 major donors that 47% of Americans are Obama supporters because they believe they are entitled to health care, food, and housing. The video, one of a series, has been slowly making its way around the Internet for a few weeks, and up until today we decided to not publish it because we could not prove its authenticity. Now, as The Huffington Post reports, David Corn, the Washington Editor at Mother Jones, has been given the full version, not this one that was purposely “degraded” to protect the videographer’s identity.
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what,” Romney says in this video. “All right — there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing.”
Ryan Grim and Matt Sledge at The Huffington Post add:
The person who uploaded a series of potentially inflammatory videos from the fundraiser has claimed authorship of them in an email exchange with The Huffington Post. The source said he or she wishes to remain anonymous for professional reasons and to avoid a lawsuit. The videos, which have created a buzz on the Internet, were blurred and at times blacked out to obscure the location of the filming, the source said.
“I have obviously degraded the quality to attempt to camo the location,” said the clandestine filmmaker. The original, which has not been posted in full, is very high quality, the source said.
…
Romney’s comments on the video go a step beyond his August claim, made in public, that the Obama administration’s state-by-state welfare waivers were an effort to “shore up his base.” In the behind-closed-doors speech to donors, Romney seems to be suggesting that nearly half of Americans expect to have all their needs supplied by the government.
As for the other 53 percent? Romney may have been referencing a meme started by conservative blogger Erick Erickson, who has noted that only 53 percent of Americans pay federal income taxes. Erickson argued that the rest of the country, and in particular the Occupy Wall Street movement, should “suck it up you whiners.”
The notion that Democrats hope to ride dependency to political power is one that has no shortage of adherents among conservatives. “We are reaching the tipping point where the majority of Americans are recipients of government programs,†columnist George Will said recently on Laura Ingraham’s radio show. “Heavens, one in seven of Americans is on food stamps today. The gamble — it’s really not a gamble, the tactic — of the Democratic Party is to run up the dependency ratio in this country until you get 50-60 percent of Americans dependent on the government in at least one or often in multiple ways, at which point they figure the party of government will always win.”
But there are a few problems with the idea of the overburdened “53 percent.” Many Americans don’t pay federal income taxes, in part, because of deductions like the child tax credit that have been championed by conservatives and progressives alike.Almost all of the “47 percent” do pay other federal taxes in the form of Social Security and Medicare payroll deductions and gas levies, as well as a variety of state and local sales and property taxes that aren’t dependent on income.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=HsyMUxouLP0%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US
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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche suggested on Friday that President Donald Trump had a role in the FBI’s investigation that led to the execution of a search warrant on a Georgia elections office, where ballots from the 2020 election reportedly were seized.
For years, President Trump has claimed that the 2020 presidential election he lost had been stolen, despite dozens of court cases that failed to prove so.
At a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters, Blanche suggested the president played a role in the investigation that led to the FBI raid, according to Politico.
“Blanche suggested that the probe was related to ‘election integrity’ and that President Donald Trump had a role in it,” Politico reported. Blanche also appeared to confirm the raid was in connection with a criminal investigation.
READ MORE: CNN’s Tapper Flags ‘Killed’ Trump-Related Link in Epstein Dump — Access Restored Fast
“It should be no surprise to many in this room, or anybody watching, that election integrity is extraordinarily important to this administration, always has been and always will be,” Blanche told reporters.
“And so the fact that President Trump and this administration are investigating to make sure that … we are investigating issues around elections to make sure that we do have completely fair and appropriate elections should not be surprising, but I can’t comment on any criminal investigations.”
The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush, during the press conference, posted to social media, “When asked about FBI’s seizure of voter records in Atlanta — Todd Blanche just said that Trump himself ‘is investigating’ voter fraud.”
In modern presidential administrations it would be unusual for a president to play a role in a specific Department of Justice criminal investigation, so as to avoid the appearance of political interference.
READ MORE: ‘We Did Not Protect President Trump’ DOJ Says Upon Releasing Millions More Epstein Files
Image via Reuters
Access to a document originally released as part of Friday’s Epstein files document dump that included language related to accusations against President Donald Trump and others allegedly had been removed, according to Jake Tapper. In just under an hour access was restored after the CNN anchor’s social media post.
The page Tapper linked to had read: “We are sorry, the page you’re looking for can’t be found on the Department of Justice website.”
“DOJ has since killed this link,” Tapper wrote. “This is what was there.”
Access was restored about 48 minutes later, according to Tapper’s posts.
According to the screenshot the CNN journalist posted on social media, the document included complaint summaries alleging minors engaging in sexual acts with Trump and others. The complaints are allegations and not proof or evidence of wrongdoing. Donald Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Part of one accusation alleged, “Caller named other individuals involved in ‘big orgy parties’ with her, other young girls, and older Victoria’s Secret models, including Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.”
“Online complainant reported she was a victim and witness to a sex trafficking ring at the Trump Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes. CA between 1995- 1996,” that same allegation continued. “Complainant reported Ghislaine Maxwell as the madam and broker for sex parties, clients of whom included Epstein, Robin Leach, and Donald Trump.”
The screenshot stated that the “Response” to those complaints was that “Complainant was spoken to and deemed not credible.”
Other complaints in the screenshotted document read: “One of complainant’s ex-girlfriend’s daughters told complainant Trump raped her, as did Epstein.”
The screenshot of the document included multiple allegations that are graphic and include references to rape and murder.
Image via Reuters
More than forty days after federal law required the release of the Epstein files, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it will post about three million additional documents from its trove on Friday.
In addition to the documents, 2,000 videos and about 180,000 images will also be released, according to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who “said the files included images taken by Epstein and others that were on his devices but he didn’t take,” NBC News reported.
“Blanche said that the public should not find within the files the names of any men who abused women in connection with Epstein,” NBC added. “His comments affirm an unsigned statement from the DOJ and the FBI last year that sparked an avalanche of criticism and calls for more transparency.”
When asked by reporters if he had updated the White House on the release of the files, Blanche said, “My team has certain communications with the White House — let me just be clear, they had nothing to do with this review. They had no oversight with this review, they did not tell this department how to do our review, what to look for, what to redact, what not to redact. They absolutely knew that I was doing this press conference today and I was releasing the materials today.”
Blanche insisted there was no “oversight by the White House” in the process.
Asked if the DOJ is releasing all documents related to President Donald Trump from the files, Blanche told reporters, “I can assure that we complied with the statute.”
“We complied with the act,” he said, “We did not protect President Trump.”
“We didn’t protect or not protect anybody,” he added, while declaring that “that there’s a hunger, a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents.”
Blanche insisted that President Trump has had the “same consistent message about Jeffrey Epstein.” He also insisted that “there’s not been a change, of course, or anything, and certainly his direction to … the Department of Justice was to release the files, be as transparent as we can.”
Q: “Can you assure the American public…that all documents, photos, and anything relevant to [Trump] connected to the case are being released?”
Blanche: “Yes…We didn’t protect President Trump.” pic.twitter.com/hQ7uf8Onzd
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) January 30, 2026
Image via Reuters
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