The top economic adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign has accused former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner of lying in his new book about a private discussion the two had during the 2012 race.
R. Glenn Hubbard, who served as Mr. Romney’s adviser for his 2008 and 2012 campaigns, said Mr. Geithner lied about a discussion in which Mr. Hubbard supposedly endorsed raising taxes, Politico reported.
“He’s going to go out and say what he wants,” Mr. Hubbard told the paper. “It just happens to be a lie.”
Mr. Geithner claims in his book, “Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises,” released Monday, that Mr. Hubbard complained to him at an Economic Club of New York dinner that the Obama administration was not endorsing the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan.
“When you guys are willing to raise taxes, we can talk about Simpson-Bowles,” Mr. Geithner reportedly told Hubbard.
“Well, of course we have to raise taxes,” Mr. Hubbard reportedly responded. “We just can’t say that now.”
Mr. Hubbard told Politico on Sunday that Mr. Geithner “is making it up.”
“It’s pretty simple. It’s not true,” he said. “I was asking him something like, how can Romney’s plan be off base because it’s essentially the Bowles-Simpson structure and Bowles-Simpson actually raises revenue.”
“But I wasn’t suggesting that we’re trying to raise taxes,” he said. “We believed that with our numbers, we would not have to [raise taxes] … It’s a misunderstanding or either that, he’s just lying. But it’s not true.”
Mr. Geithner’s spokeswoman Jenni LeCompte told Politico that the former treasurer stands by his account of the conversation with Mr. Hubbard.
“Mr. Geithner’s memory on this exchange is crystal clear,” she said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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