Romney testimony in friend's divorce focus of court hearing
Canton, Massachusetts (CNN) – High-profile attorney Gloria Allred appeared Wednesday at a hearing outside of Boston, asking a state judge to unseal testimony Mitt Romney gave during his business colleague's bitter divorce battle more than 20 years ago.
Allred represents Maureen Stemberg Sullivan, the ex-wife of Staples co-founder Tom Stemberg, who worked closely with Romney in the company's development and spoke on the GOP nominee's behalf at the Republican National Convention.
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The Boston Globe petitioned the court on October 15 to release Romney's 1989 testimony, but the judge, Jennifer Ulwick, said Wednesday she believed the documents had been destroyed.
However, Allred and her client, Maureen Stemberg Sullivan, the ex-wife involved in the divorce case, urged the court to agree to the newspaper's request, and, in a surprise move, provided volumes of Romney's testimony to the court.
Allred, however, said she was unable to comment on the content of the sealed testimony or if it could be damaging to Romney's presidential bid.
Stemberg's attorney also admitted to having additional transcripts from the decades-old case.
Robert Jones, the attorney representing Romney was anxious to move forward with the proceeding, and took no position on the openness of future hearings with regards to a camera in the courtroom or if they are open to the public.
"We're in a little bit of a spin cycle and the longer we sit on this the harder it gets," Jones said, adding: "From the governor's stand point, the sooner we get out of here the better."
The judge is giving all parties 24 hours to pore over hundreds of pages of testimony before they meet Thursday at 9 a.m. ET to continue arguing whether the testimony should be made public, as requested by The Boston Globe, Sullivan and Allred.
- CNN's Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
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Is this all the loser lefties have??? SERIOUSLY??? A 20 year old divorce case of an old friend??? And if these are "sealed" court records how can there be so many copies floating around? How can anybody be sure what they are and where they came from? I smell an Obama rat here trying to concoct something. I guess we STILL haven't seen just how low Obama and his Chicago stooges will stoop to con the American people into voting for this miserable failure of a president.
And STILL no Benghazi stroy on the Ticker... But there is room for this trash.
In other news, the Romney campaign said that it stands by Richard Mourdock, the Republican candidate for Senate from Indiana, who said in a debate on Tuesday that pregnancies from rape are God's will. Don't despair, Republicans. Romney has been known to change his mind. Remember, Romney initially stood by his comment about the 47% who don't pay income tax, but in less than one month Romney completely disavowed his 47% comment and said that he was completely wrong about the 47%.
more flipper
Word is that Romney LIED
Word is that Romney LIED in his testimony. Not surprising after all the lies he's told during this campaign.
I love watching liberals run around in fear like chickens with no heads. They dumpster diving, using Obama's old tricks of going after sealed personal records, but I say go for it. You are losing and have nothing to stand on but failure. Bring in the media ho Allred and let her try to bully people, but there is nothing there. Just another failed attempt by Obama to discredit Romney. America has seen Romney and Obama and they are running to Romney because they know Obama is nothing but a POS in an empty suit.
Sorry liberals, but America hates you. Two weeks from now all of you should go to Planned Parenthood and self abort.
So they tried to destroy evidence of Romney's lies, but Allred or her client kept copies. Sweet!
Romney destroys evidence everywhere after he leaves. He destroyed his records when he was governor and when he headed the Olympics.
Yeah, lets get those tax returns and Bain Capital business records unsealed and released while we're at it.
Modern jobs require that one submit a background check to make sure the employer (private or government) knows who the heck they are hiring.
It is clear MItt has tried to deceive the American people by not coming clean. This is why he cannot be trusted to steer this country for the next 4 years.
Obama/Biden 2012
Another ploy to destroy reputation, digging up old graves will not help. Romney/Ryan 2012
Wow, Romney's probably worried about this. The catch-22 he's in with this now is that he's been silent on Donald Trump's nonsense tirade so he can't claim to be a victim of Gloria Allred and her stupidness. There is nothing like a wife scorned.
The rumor is that Romney lied on the witness stand about the value of Staples stock in order to help his friend put the screws to the friend's ex-wife. That's perjury, and that's also another black mark against him for his mistreatment of women.
the left is trying to harm romneys chance to win the election
Oops, October surprise?!
It's being reported that Romney lied about the worth of Staples stock, in order to screw his friend's wife out of her share. The husband and Romney sold some of their Staples stock a few weeks later for a much higher price than Romney said it was worth.
Hussein Obama, why are you denying charities $5 million?? Why are you so heartless?
Pathetic cheat too.,
Romney hiding something? That's hard to believe.
If Mitt Romney committed perjury in a court of law to enable one of his good 'ol boy network buddies to financially gain, while his buddy's ex-wife was forced to endure injustice in a court of law, Mitt Romney should never hold public office of any kind! Bless Gloria Allred for providing the tools for Ms. Stemberg to tell the truth about wrongs committed against her. As to Mr. Stemberg's cancelling of his ex-wife's health insurance, he deserves to rot in hell
This could be rich !
The article fails to disclose the purpose of them opening this up now on a 20+ year old case and what they hope to accomplish. Without that, this behavior appears to be bizarre and unethical.
Finally you jumped on top of this story CNN. Willard's testimony was that Staple's was not a profitable company. The 2 weeks later him and his buddy cahed in all their shares and made a fortune. He perhured himself under oath! He was on the stand as an "expert witness."
Wow, where are all of thr Robmey supporters on this thread. I guess you can't take the heat after all.
It looks like the Chicago thugs are getting desperate. Dirty tricks like this are what have gotten obama elected in the past. I'm sure if allred is successful, the media will drooling all over this story instead of the incredible cover up by the obama administration with regard to Libya-Gate.
An ambassador died, obama lied.....
even if i would change my mind for Romney, I already mailed it in for Obama and a straight Democratic ticket!