Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign denied Herman Cain’s accusation that it leaked information concerning sexual harassment claims against the former pizza mogul, and implied former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may be the real culprit.
In an interview with Forbes magazine on Wednesday, Cain said he believed his former aide Curt Anderson, now an advisor to the Perry campaign, was the source of the story. When asked about Cain’s comments, Ray Sullivan, Perry’s communications director, denied anyone from the campaign was behind the story.
“That is false, patently untrue; no one at this campaign was involved in this story, and the first we knew about it was when we read Politico,” Sullivan told the National Journal. Sullivan then implied the Romney campaign might be the real source of the leaks, saying he “wouldn’t put it past them.”
“There are blog postings around as well … discussing that Cain’s successor at the restaurant association is a big Romney donor and some of the board members,” said Sullivan. “There are much closer connections between the restaurant association, Cain, and the Romney camp than there are with us.”
According to FEC records, Steven C. Anderson, Cain’s successor as the CEO of the National Restaurant Association, donated $1,000 to Romney earlier this year. He also contributed the same amount, in two $500 installments, to Cain’s failed Senate bid in 2004.
Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul, who told The Daily Caller earlier this week the campaign had not leaked the story, denied Sullivan’s charges.
“Not true,” she said.