On foreign trip, Romney makes time for fundraisers

Mitt Romney leaves 10 Downing Street after meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron on July 26, 2012 in London, England.

/ Getty Images

Mitt Romney is in the midst of a trip to London, Israel and Poland designed to burnish his foreign policy credentials and remind voters of his successful stewardship of the Salt Lake City Olympics.

It is also a chance for him to raise a significant amount of money for his campaign.

After meeting with officials and making headlines for questioning whether Britain is ready for the Olympics, Romney kicked things off in London Thursday with a pair of controversial fundraisers at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Why controversial? Because the events were designed to raise money from donors in London's scandal-scarred banking and finance industry, the epicenter of the LIBOR interest rate fixing scandal.

(Romney visits London for the Olympics.)

One of the fundraisers was originally supposed to be hosted by Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays - until Diamond pulled out following his resignation from the company, which paid more than $450 million for allegedly trying to manipulate the interbank interest rate. The Washington Post reported that one of the co-chairs of the fundraiser, Barclay's lobbyist Patrick Durkin, has helped raise more than $1 million for Romney.

In response to Romney's fundraisers, a group of British lawmakers called on "Barclays and its executives to cease fundraising for political candidates immediately and to concentrate entirely on repairing confidence and trust in the banking system instead." The liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change, meanwhile, released a web video saying that "Big banks write checks for Romney so they can write their own rules." 

At the first fundraising event, Romney said he isn't opposed to all regulation of banks - but he does believe the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill passed in response to the 2008 economic meltdown was bad legislation that should be repealed.

"You have to make the regulations modern and up to date," he said. "And when you find in some cases they have been counterproductive, you get rid of them. Change them. Bring in new ones."

(Romney speaks in London.)

"With regard to regulation here in the UK, I've got nothing to say about what goes on here," Romney added. The European Union proposed on Wednesday criminalizing the manipulation of global interest rates, including LIBOR. (President Obama has also received donations from Barclays employees, to the tune of $34,800, the New York Times reported; Romney raised $234,650 from that group through the end of May.)

It might seem odd that Romney is raising money abroad at all. While American politicians cannot raise money from foreign nationals, they can raise money from Americans living abroad or visiting other countries - something Mr. Obama has done as well. Ambassadors are allowed to donate to a candidate, but they are barred from bundling contributions from others.

When Romney gets to Jerusalem he is making time to host a small, $50,000 per person fundraising dinner that had to be rescheduled because it was originally set to take place on Tisha B'Av, a Jewish day of fasting and mourning. One Romney donor told ABC News that major conservative donor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, for whom Israel is a top concern, may attend that event. Adelson and his family have already spent $10 million to support Romney after initially backing Newt Gingrich; he has said he is willing to spend in excess of $100 million to defeat Mr. Obama.

[fiddlestickawshucks]

Like big banks never wrote big checks to Obama, the Democrooks and the Republicrooks to avoid regulation.

Obama insulted the UK and the Queen twice; once when he returned the bust of Churchill and again when he visited the Queen and gave her some tacky self-promoting gift.

If it's good enough for Obama; it should for Romney.

You'll take note that Obama sent Moochelle to the Olympic games to represent the US and try to improve relations with the UK.

Probably ashamed to show his face over there.!

Also, he would have to take time from his fund raising events so he can buy as many votes from the biggies as possible.!

[daffy64]

I'll give him twenty (Canadian) bucks. It would be great to see him win and provide us with the biggest yucks since W. was your Pres.

[hsinco-2009]

How is it that Romney can fund raise from foreign donors?

[stephand]

Same as Obama. It is not foreign donors, it is US citizens living abroad.

[josephp5]

I have seen some on this comment board claim that Obama also engaged in foreign fundraisers. Well, there's big differences in what Obama did and what Romney is doing. Obama never attended or organized the fundraisers. They were organized by private American citizens, and attended by Americans living abroad. No fundraiser took place in China.

Romney is organizing these events, attending them, and speaking at them. They are being attended by super powerful London bankers, which is especially outrageous due to the breaking London Interbank Rate (LIBOR) scandal! And Romney is actually commenting on US banking regulation policy during these events, declaring that he opposes Dodd-Frank reforms!

It's a desperate attempt by Romney apologists to deflect the well-justified criticism ("Obama did it too!") but there is really no comparison to this latest outrage of Romney.

[stephand]

The point is not that Obama did it too. The point is that fake outrage. These are fundraisers with US citizens living abroad. It has been going on for year, but suddenly it is an issue. Go read what the economy did last quarter and spare me the fake outrage about fundraising. If you want an outrage over fundraising, go look at how much time Obama spends doing it vs. previous presidents. Maybe he should focus on the economy a little more.

[josephp5]

The outrage is not phony. I disagree with the meme that this has been noncontroversial for a long time, and only now when Romney does it there is manufactured outrage. The outrage is because of the blatant, unflinching way that Romney is raising money. Like I said, Obama himself never organized or attended foreign fundraisers. Romney is making it the central part of his trip! And London bankers---right in the middle of the LIBOR scandal! One fundraiser was to be hosted by none other than Bob Diamond, who just had to resign and pay a $450 million fine for his LIBOR lies (he should be in jail!). And Romney has been making criticisms of US banking policy during these fundraisers! Candidates are not supposed to comment on US politics when overseas! Republicans would have screamed "treason!" if Obama did that when he was running against McCain. Yet Romney is doing it, and even worse, doing it about US banking policy at a fundraiser attended by FOREIGN BANKERS! It really is outrageous---that's why the outrage.

[ballwyllo]

"Big banks write checks for Romney so they can write their own rules."

Shoddy reporting...but it works to get the libs all juiced up.

[stephand]

No reference of Obama's foreign fundraisers - Yes, it is shoddy reporting!

[jwilsonte5]

Mitts not going over very well LOL What a clown LOL HAHAHAH you cant take him anywhere!!

[euge005]

So, Mittins is not happy with the fat cats here giving him 10M$ checks, now he wants them from foriegn ones? I thought outside money was illegal? Did the buy out of the courts in Citizen's United change that? And if money equal free speach, are we now including the world in our rights to vote as well? This does not sound like anything a real American would do. Where was he born again?

[josephp5]

ad_iudicium: Did Obama have a fundraiser in China? Really? I don't think so!

People like you intentionally pretend to misunderstand what the outrage is about ("You are just jealous of Romney's success!" "Obama also made overseas trips!") in order to distract from the real problem---Romney is having huge overseas fundraisers!

[stephand]

josephp5: Actually he did...