(CNN) - Newt Gingrich's campaign admitted Wednesday night the former House speaker was inaccurate when he claimed his team offered several witnesses to ABC News to refute statements made by Gingrich's second wife in a controversial interview aired last week.
CNN Chief National Correspondent John King reported the campaign said it only recommended Gingrich's two daughters from his first marriage, who wrote a letter discouraging ABC to release the interview.
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Marianne Gingrich claimed in the ABC interview that her husband asked for an open marriage while he was having an extramarital affair with his current wife, Callista Gingrich.
"The story was false. Every personal friend I have who knew us in that period says the story is false. We offered several of them to ABC to prove it was false. They weren't interested," Gingrich said at a CNN debate last week.
In an interview on Tuesday, King pressed Gingrich on those claims, saying ABC News insisted no such witnesses were put forward.
Gingrich said ABC's defense was "just plain baloney."
"If they're saying that, then they're not being honest," Gingrich said. "We had several people prepared to be very clear and very aggressive in their dispute about that, and (ABC News) wasn't interested."
On Wednesday, however, the campaign conceded the candidate was wrong, both in his debate answer and in his interview with CNN on Tuesday.
R.C. Hammond, the campaign's press secretary, told CNN the only people the campaign offered to ABC were the speaker's two daughters, Jackie Cushman and Kathy Gingrich Lubbers, who make regular appearances for their father on the campaign trail.
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Fig Newton lies before he thinks. Serial liar, serial adulterer, convicted by congress of 87 counts of gross malfeasance and ethics violations. My dog has higher standards that Newton Leroy Gingrich.
Newtie lied – there's a shocker!
Gingrich is a corrupt politician and influence peddler! How anyone believes his wild assertions is beyond me/
Error? It was an outright lie. He lied two times! Why not just call it what it is??
I wonder how the people in South Carolina feel today? Would he have won if he hadn't made a fool of himself lying on national TV. I hope Romney brings this up in tonights debate!
Newt and Mitt ,
Men with Daddy Issues .
Well, this is a very sad day in American politics. For the first time in the history of our country a career politician has said something that was not quite true. Next thing you know, they will all be telling bigger and bigger lies.
Come on Newt, do you really expect us to take anything you say at face value? You're a politician which means there is a good chance you're lying if your lips are moving.
I remember when he said that. It made no sense to me that ABC would not interview the people that Newt "brought forward."
Now it makes sense. This man is an arrogant, disingenuous Washington insider with nothing more than ego and ignorance as "attributes."
Either he has a mental problem or is really, really dumb. Newt is a pathalogical liar who really believes that if he says it, it is not only true, but that we'll buy it.
"On Wednesday, however, the campaign conceded the candidate was wrong, both in his debate answer and in his interview with CNN on Tuesday. "
Why am I not surprised?
His mistake was running for president. He's a miserable whining liar.
This creep is as slimy as they come. He should really be managing a Buy here... pay here used car lot with his pinkie ring. It says a lot about America when we see a dog like him get to where he is in the polls. Have we lost all intelligence, honorable character and pride? Do we have no more class and style?
And so it begins . . .
How does the GOP support an individual that had so many ethics charges against him, was ousted by his own party as Speaker and had to pay 300,000.00 in fines? Not to mention his family values, isn't that hypocrisy????????????????Obama is a refreshing change, honest, intelligent, respectful and is working so hard to make America good again...OBAMA FOR SURE 2012
Mr. Gingrich will throw someone from his staff under the bus and fire him for telling the truth and making him look bad in this dog and pony show.
Does that make him a liar?
To FedUp:
Newt Gingrich and the Republicans made moralism the center of their campains....the fact that they have no morals is their fault, not ABC's.
So, in a debate, which was done solely to garner support in an upcoming state primary, he goes on the offensive, feigning anger at someone who dares question him, by saying something he knew to be false. thus looking good in front of an audience. then, in the comfort and privacy of his campaign headquarters issues a retraction. If he is truly sorry for the "misunderstanding" he should, at the next debate, apologize to THAT audience. Go public with his mea culpa. But doing that, those on the fence would have a reason to take what he is saying with a grain of salt.
Offered his children from a previous marriage as witnesses? Of course they wouldn't say anything that would be contrary to their father's claims! Perhaps he was confused because the "friends" he thought would deny the allegations against him refused to lie for him! And what couple having personal conversations about their marriage has it with an audience? Newt Nut!
Not meant to be factual.
Ah, so the man lies again, yet he spouts his religious faith regularly. I bet God gets tired of hearing this man ask for forgiveness.
The country cannot come together – heck! – the Republicans can't even come together. Nothing will change... Barack Obama will win by a landslide if they run two candidates against him. The odds are in BOs favor.
Once a cheater, always a cheater. And cheating involves...lying! You see a person break marriage vows before God and family twice and what do you expect? And THIS is the best the GOP has to offer? Newt claims to be a converted catholic, so I wonder how many hours he spends in the confessional each week? Poor priest probably has to bring lunch. Then again, I doubt Newt follows catholic dogma to the letter – he prefers living by his own rules.
As usual, the only person not being honest is Newt. He has a very very long history of calling people liars that don't agree with him. He can't be trusted to tell the truth even about the smallest of things. His first approach to any situation is to lie about it and of course blame someone else. It's time the republican public wise up to the fact that Newt lies about everything, plain and simple. Check out his past if you're not old enough to remember the real Newt, don't believe one word this self-proclaimed historian (NOT) says.
CNN should redo the headline such that "error" is removed and "lie" or "liar" is inserted. The word error, in this context, implies an honest mistake. This was not an honest mistake. This was a lie.