let tim enjoy the comfort of a good job. this is what see shaping up. a snarling campaign with the elephants trampling their way around the circus tent. what's the old romney formula? support the enterprise by shipping the dirtier jobs off shore. now, that's what i call equity. that's "hardball" for now. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politicsnation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, the gop divided over willard mitt romney's tax returns. today rush limbaugh launched a scathing attack on a growing list of republicans calling on governor romney to release his taxes. >> i saw practically the entire

republican establishment thinks he should. what an asinine thing to suggest. i don't think romney ought to release his tax returns. i hope romney is keeping track of who on our side is caving to obama's demands. i hope he understands it's the tea party sticking by him and not the establishment republicans. >> but the whispers in the gop have turned into a deafening chorus. republicans are calling for romney to release his tax returns. "the washington post" says the debate is now causing some divisions inside his campaign. but romney is still shrugging it off. >> i think people in my party just say, look. this is a nonissue. release the returns and they'll go away. my experience is the democratic party has approached taxes in a different way than in the past.

their opposition people look for anything they can find to distort, twist, and try to make negative. >> this is a conversation republican leaders in washington definitely don't want to have. >> democrats are calling on mitt romney to release his tax returns in the name of transparency. do you think he should? >> i'll refer you to the romney campaign on those things. >> american people are asking where are the jobs. not where in the hell the tax returns are. >> not only democrats are asking. a lot of republicans are -- >> it is not about the tax returns. it's about the economy. the american people vote with their wallet. bye. >> and with that, speaker boehner walked out. he didn't want to answer any more questions about romney's tax returns. the issue ask getting more and more curious by the day. today more bad news for the

romney campaign. this afternoon the "huffington post" wrote there are now questions about the tax returns for 2011. the only year romney has made public. the post says quote, mitt romney has not released his full tax records from 2010 including key documentation connected to his swiss bank account. people who own foreign bank accounts are required to file a separate document with the irs. romney has not released that form to the public. end of quote. now, this documentation could shed light on the mysterious $3 million swiss bank account that mr. romney shut down after 2010. we do know from what he has released that the bank account was housed in the swiss town of alton right in the center of the country.

the account was kept here in a bank called swiss prime site. but that's about all we know about it. and romney seems determined to make sure no one finds out anything more. it all leads to one simple question. why? joining me now is ryan graham, washington bureau chief for the heffing ton post who wrote that report on romney's swiss bank rkt. catherine cryer. and josh greene, senior political editor for bloomberg business week. who's been reporting on romney's finances. thank you all for joining me. let me start with you, ryan. the 2010 tax returns were not complete, is that what you're saying? what would -- what could we have learned if they'd been completed? and what does this have to do with him running for president?

>> this is the story zach carter and i wrote today. it's a document known as an f-bar. it gives more detailed information about those particular accounts. it's hard to know exactly what we would learn until we see it. but it's critical that if he's going to say look, all i'm giving you is 2010, then give all of 2010. what we found is -- and as "the l.a. times" reported, his 2010 taxes don't match up with his presidential financial disclosure form. there are tons of accounts listed on his tax return that simply do not appear on his presidential disclosure form. and, you know, he has yet to explain why that is. whether it was a host of clerical errors that just conveniently left off these kind of damning investments from his disclosure form. or if there's something else going on. you know, it goes -- you know, this is something that people

are asking, and i think they're going to ask it up until election day. >> now, josh, i mean, the question begs to be raised why he won't release them. and there's all kind of possibilities. maybe he didn't pay taxes at all in 2009. he took the swiss bank account amnesty form the irs offered in 2009. details of a $100 million ira account. had more offshore accounts we didn't know. it could be any number of reasons, josh. what do you think? >> i've spoken to private equity executives and tax planners this week. the most interesting theory i heard that i wrote about on "business week's" went this week, romney might have experienced a big loss during the crash in 2008 that he was able to carry forward to 2009 and couple with some of the off-shore tax havens.

zero out his tax bill for 2009. now, that's nothing but speculation, but if it were true -- >> if that's true, is that allowable? let me ask on that point. is that allowable if it's true? i know it's speculation, but is it allowable? >> legally it could be allowable, but there's the political problem of if it turned out that you paid no taxes, then explaining that in the context of a presidential race when you're being painted as a rich, out of touch politician playing by a different set of rules, it will come out. said it was not true that he paid no taxes in 2009. although we can't say for sure. >> now, catherine, when you look at the fact that all of these

questions come about looking at bain capital, looking at his investments, he really invited us to look at his tenure as the ceo of bain and opened the door to this saying look how i conducted business. i'm a job creator. look what i did in the private sector. then when people started looking, he started saying no, don't go this far. only look at what i want to show you. >> well, when he ran against senator kennedy, when he ran for governor he did not disclose his tax returns despite the precedent his father set. he did not believe he would have to. it's quite extraordinary. when john boehner says this is all about jobs and the economy, absolutely. and when we name him as a job creator a man who turns businesses around, to look at his businesses and say what tax breaks, loopholes, offshore

accounts. questionable, not necessarily illegal, but questionable dealings did he use to accumulate the wealth. a rigged system that is not constructed to create jobs and boost the broad domestic economy. absolutely fair game. he is going to have to release. and if he doesn't, i actually read a piece today speculating could this man literally withdraw before the convention? i think things are going to get more interesting. >> wow. you think he could have to withdraw? you think it's that serious? >> if he doesn't, one of the moments of speculation, and josh i thought you mentioned this. is because of a ruling that the swiss banks were having to reveal investors, no investors ever thought that they would be an open book, then there was an amnesty created in 2009. a lot of very wealthy americans with offshore accounts used that

to go back to the irs and amend. it may be in fact that he participated -- don't know -- but that he participated in the amnesty program saying i didn't declare my tax because i didn't think anyone would ever pierce that veil. now i've utilized the amnesty program. all of which calling his assertion that his business acumen is right to drive the economy of the united states. >> all of these scenarios that we're speculating -- this is all speculation, we don't know. but, ryan, i heard you trying to get in there, but answer that. do you think they ever thought they'd have to release the details of the swiss account? >> no. actually, abby huntsman and i reported today that three bain executives we spoke to say that he never thought over the last ten years he would ever have to

release these tax returns. it's basically a high principle for him. he genuinely doesn't believe that people have the right to this, what he considers private financial information. and, you know, he's insulted at having to deal with the question. and you can almost see that come through in a really fascinating and wide ranging interview that he gave to bob costa of the national review yesterday. and what i was trying to cut in on was during that interview he also talked about the cayman islands. he said look, there's nothing wrong with the cayman islands account. we set up an account there and that lets foreign companies invest in a u.s. company without having to pay u.s. taxes. so that's good for the u.s. because then we get the foreign investment. and what i guess he doesn't understand the politics of what he's saying. he outright admitted that the reason -- and zach carter wrote this up today on our site, pulled it from costa's interview. that the reason they set up those cayman islands entities

was so that foreign corporations could evade u.s. taxes. he outright said that. >> wouldn't have to pay american taxes. >> and a lot of u.s. taxpayers pretend to be foreign companies when they go to the cayman islands to get out of taxes. >> josh, if he said that, we don't know what happened but we know he said that. if he said that, that could be a nice commercial for the president's campaign. but it also could lead to why a lot of republicans are coming out saying release them and have appeared to change on defending him in this. he's advocating principles that could hurt him and the ticket. >> that's right. and the other thing we saw in congress two other senators durbin and levin, both introduced legislation or announced they were going to introduce legislation that would

force presidential candidates to disclose tax returns, details of offshore tax havens, details of iras and 401(k)s. all the stuff out there. in the house that's probably not going to go far because republicans are in control. but in the senate, this could force republican senators who are no great fans of mitt romney to take a vote. either defend these tax havens or throw their own presidential candidate under the bus. that's not any position they want to find themselves in. >> any of your viewers just need to google offshore accounts and whether it's citi bank, barkley, all of the leading banks. they have all their websites. they pop up immediately. why do you do this? legal tax avoidance. you don't find anything in there, here's a gray legal common reason why every american

should utilize this service. >> i'm confused. i thought it would say job creator, but i've got to go. thank you all for your time tonight. coming up, new information about an investment in bermuda. that exclusive story is next. plus rush limbaugh's ridiculous batman bain conspiracy theory takes a turn today. and chris christie could be the keynote speaker at the convention in tampa, but he might not be willard's number two. is this already causing a rift in the gop? you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. what's with you?

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it's the story of a company that took advantage of the post-9/11 insurance market. it was headquartered in bermuda. and can you guess who has ties to this company? yep. things just went from bad to worse for willard. that's next. . and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower

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maneuvers. today "the boston phoenix" broke the story of romney's multimillion dollar ties to a bermuda insurance company set up in the weeks following september 11th that hasn't had to pay u.s. taxes since they opened their doors. endurance specialty was created to take advantage of the post-9/11 insurance market. which was surging with customers wanting to buy more property coverage after the terrorist attacks. reports say endurance was able to charge 300% to 400% higher rates on policies than before september 11th. critics call profiteering. although it was a company founded by and run by americans, endurance specialty was able to avoid paying u.s. income taxes by setting up shop in bermuda. this new report cracks open the

windows of romney's past financial history. joining me now is david bernstein, political reporter for "the boston phoenix." he broke the news about romney's ties to endurance specialty today. david, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me on. >> now, you write that romney invested in a company called golden gate capital. tell us how they figure into this story with the company in bermuda. >> yeah. golden gate was an i created by capital people. and this was during the time romney was at the olympics. they left bain capital and formed golden gate. and they opened their first investment fund in early 2001. bain capital was a major investor in that fund and romney personally invested money in that fund. presumably if we believe romney had nothing to do with what was going on at bain capital,

presumably that happened through separate paths and not, you know, the same path. they were both invested in golden gate. golden gate was going to do -- the idea was they were going to invest mostly in sort of high-tech california. they were located in san francisco. this opportunity came along right after 9/11 there was this attempt to form -- there were a number of these companies that tried to spring up. endurance specialty was one of them. first organizational meeting started right after 9/11 in september. formally opened its doors in bermuda in december. and so romney through golden gate was an investor. now, romney -- and i spoke with someone with the romney campaign that sads he invested in the fund and then people managing the fund decided to invest in that company. that was not his decision. but it's worth pointing out that romney continued to invest in golden gate on and on and, in

fact, as of his last form -- disclosure form filed last year 2011 showed he was invested in, i believe, five different golden gate investment vehicles with more than $2 million altogether. and so clearly he wasn't bothered by -- >> let me see if -- >> -- more of his money. it shows approval at the very least. >> all right. so, david, so he -- he and bain separately invest in golden gate who are guys who came out of bain. they invest in this insurance company after 9/11 that makes a killing in laymen's term, after 9/11 based on the rising rates. and he continues investing in this firm even though he claims he didn't approve their investments. he continued to invest and the last disclosures was $2 million

in his 2011 disclosures. >> yeah. and the point you make about the taxes, it's important to note that a lot of these casualty insurance companies set up in bermuda at the time and still to avoid taxes. and particularly, bermuda not only has no corporate tax, it has no capital gains tax. the way insurance companies work is they take in premiums from customers and invest it because they only have to pay out money every once in awhile. it's not like a health insurance company who are constantly paying out claims. they're making money through investments and once in awhile when a hurricane hits or something like that, that's when they have to pull a lot of that money out. so just to be clear, romney was paying taxes on his -- he was paying capital gains taxes presumably on his gains in value through golden gate, but the reason he was making gains is

because the company they invested in was avoidings all of those taxes and able to make a lot of profit. >> so they made more money because the company did not have to pay the taxes. >> and of course the united states was not collecting those taxes. so it was not gaining from that financially as a country. >> and again, it's all right, fine, and legal to make the money. but when you're running for president, we need to know how and what you did and what your values were. thank you, david bernstein, from "boston phoenix" thanks for your time. >> my pleasure. coming up, chris christie's tough talk made him a republican rock star. but did it cost him the job he really wanted? big news today. and a day after dick cheney's pep talk against defense cuts, more gop hypocrisy in washington. barney franks is here live. stay with us. so you brushed with colgate total and you didn't.

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food stamps, out of control. health care, beyond reason. but spending on the military? they have no problem with that. take a look at this graph. last year the united states spent $739 billion on defense. china, the country with the next largest military spending spend just under $90 billion. look at that. $739 billion compared to china's $90 billion. in fact, we spend more than the other top ten countries combined by a long shot. so why is that important? the government is set up to automatically make defense cuts as part of last year's bipartisan budget agreement.

and now the gop is getting worried. >> the cuts of this magnitude will put our nation's national security at risk. >> the defense portion of the sequester in my view would clearly hollow our military. >> we're finding the capability to address that threat's reduced. >> there is no doubt we will have the smallest navy and air force in history. >> national security risk? hollowed military? threats? does this sound familiar? oh, yes, it does. and they were in a mood for a little nostalgia bringing dick 13% cheney in yesterday to get them ginned up for the fight against these cuts. wait. i'm sorry did i say the gop is against spending cuts? what about all this talk? >> aend the spending spree in washington.

>> focus on trying to get the fiscal house in order. >> washington has not got its fiscal house in order. >> that's more like it. we need to get our fiscal house in order. apparently that $739 billion on military spending, that's just okeydokey artichoky. joining me is barney franks. thank you for joining me. >> thank you, al. >> you've been a leader in the fight against the ballooning military budget for years. they'll cut health care, they'll cut social programs, food stamps. why is military spending off limits? >> well, it's part of an ideology -- let's be clear. when you have the tea party types in power, when you have these right wingers in power, they're not just cutting medicare because they need to reduce the deficit. they were against medicare when

it started. these are people who do not understand that we need a private sector that is vigorous but a public sector that is also funded. they're opposed to the notion of governance. as to the military, they have this ideology that says america somehow has this mission. some of them say it's god's idea. a terrible thing to blame god for, it seems to me. it's god's idea that america has to bring peace and order to the whole world. we simply physically and more culturally can't do it. you know, the military is very good. we have a superb military. they are good at what a military can do. they can stop bad things from happening. but the best trained, best armed 30-year-old americans can't make democracy happen in iraq. they can't make corruption go away in afghanistan. they cannot bring cohesion to a society that doesn't have it. but we spend tens and hundreds of billions trying.

when you talk about laying off teachers, when you talk about reducing police officers, when you talk about not building highways, when you talk about not having housing for the elderly, they say that's a good thing. they say when the government spends money, it hurts the economy. it detracts from the private economy. they think john maynard who said sometimes government spending is necessary, but that's wrong. when it comes to the military, it's a mysterious thing to me. apparently everything they believe about government spending flips. and they are worried they'll have a recession if we cut the military. by the way, i want to cut the military in some places where it didn't going to cause us a recession. we continue 67 years after world war ii to be the main defense budget for england, italy, france. we did that under harry truman when the communists were threatening. we're still doing it. in france they're proposing to

lower the retirement age from 62 to 60 while these republicans want to raise our retirement age to 70. the reason the french can afford it is we're subsidizing their military. >> under this budget. and when you raise about what they're doing in terms of the budget and the priorities, republicans have bought wholehearted into this ryan budget. it's devastating to the poor. remember, 62% of the cuts target low-income programs. that's $3.3 trillion in cuts. yet the budget boosts defense spending. it increases it by $6.2 trillion in this decade. >> it's amazing what they're proposing. >> i don't like the sequester. that's not the right way to do it. i want to cut the thermonuclear weapons we have stockpiled. we don't need to be defending western europe.

yeah, i worry about iran. i worry about some other things. i want america to be the strongest nation in the world mainly because denmark can't handle it and i'd rather it be us than china. but we can be the strongest nation in the world at 75% of what we're now spending. if you're going to reduce the deficit, if you don't cut medical care -- and you're right about what it does to the most vulnerable. it whacks the middle class too. it cuts back on roads, on firefighters, environmental protection. all of the things we do together which is what government does to improve the quality of our lives here gets cut savagely so we continue to waste money in afghanistan, subsidize western europe and be prepared for a nuclear war with the soviet union. >> i'm glad you made that clear. you're talking about the western europe subsidies. you're talking about afghanistan. you're talking about things that will not at all lead to any risk

for american citizens. >> no risk for american citizens. and very little economic negatives for americans. i don't see how if -- we still have marines on okinawa. if we were to take those thousands of marines off okinawa which the okinawans would like us to do, it would help the economy, not hurt it. >> let me ask you about mitt romney. you've represented massachusetts since the '80s. you know him well. why won't he release his tax returns? >> for a good reason. he's embarrassed about what they would show. they would show this is a man who took advantage of every loophole, of everything that's unpopular about the tax code who had no regard for the american economy but to the extent that he could outsource, you know, the president says he's outsourcing jobs. he's consistent.

he outsourced his own income production. clearly he would be embarrassed by the extent to which he had the money in these tax havens. in places that any american president ought to want to change. >> do you think with the growing chorus we're hearing from members of his own party that he may have to defer and release more information or from what you know of him, do you think he's going to hold this line? >> i don't see -- well, first of all when you say hold the line, if romney holds the line on this, it would be the first time in the man's life he holds the line on anything. there is nothing more dangerous than to be between mitt romney and the position he used to have and one more advantageous. he'd get run over by one of his wife's two cadillacs. this is the most flexible guy,

yes he's embarrassed. it's a purely political calculation. i don't see how you can sustain money as president while hiding what he did again and again. it's not an attack on the wealthy. it's an attack on someone who was clearly misleading on his role with bain. where by coincidence romney and bain have been making the investment at a time when he had nothing to do with bain. that's a heck of coincidence. >> chairman, i've got to go. >> he's got a lot to hide and he's hiding it. >> well, chairman, i've got to go. barney frank, thanks as always. great guest. thank you for coming. coming up, big news about chris christie in 2012. but not the kind his fans had been hoping for. it left us wondering if there's a new rift in the gop.

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it's time for the summer break. we start down under in darwin, australia, where they brought recycling to a whole new level. it's the annual beer can regatta. that's right. all boats are made out of beer cans. they've got crab boats, hammer boats. the biggest one even has a second floor. no sign of mitt romney on his jet ski down there yet. back in florida this guy fishing wish he'd stayed in his boat. he jumped in to see what he caught and came face to face with this great white shark. is this how president obama feels when he goes to capitol hill? just kidding, speaker boehner. just kidding. and that's today's summer break. p with the e-trade 360 investing dashboard. e-trade 360 is the world's first investing homepage that shows you where all your investments are

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time? nbc news reports the new jersey governor has been tapped for the keynote speech at next month's republican national convention. conservatives love his brashness, his tough talk, and his take no prisoners style. >> i'm not going to the nets game. my message to the nets is good-bye. you've maximized your tan. get off the beach. it's like the hotel california. you know? you can check in any time you like but you can never leave. all right? if what you want to do is put on a show and giggle every time i talk, well then i have no interest in answering your question. i got sent here to do a job. i didn't get sent here to be elected prom king. let me at them. get me out of the cage and let me go. so, new jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me. ♪

>> "the new york times" writes today that his brashness blunts his hope to run with romney. quote, republicans close to mr. romney's campaign say that the governor's continued hostile encounters have augmented fears that he's too unpredictable and too contentious turning what was once viewed as a key strength into a drawback. is christie too mean for romney? joining me now is political analyst and director for the democratic national committee and wes moore best selling author. thank you both for joining us. >> thanks, rev. >> karen, so romney won't pick chris christie as his running mate. why is he afraid?

>> well, you know, i think as the piece that you read from indicated, he can be a little bit off the cuff and too far astray. he can be brash. while that's something you may want on the campaign trail as your attack dog going after your opponent, that may not quite be what you want in your vice presidential candidate. giving a speech at the convention is perfect actually because it is very scripted. in the teleprompter. you get the best of both worlds. >> now, i don't know about that. i've been known not to follow. but anyway, wes, let me ask you. you know, the fkt that was one of the loyal supporters of romney. came out early for romney. but in january he did call for romney to release his taxes. let me play you this. >> let's get all the facts out there, see what the tax returns

say, and then i think everybody will know the story's much adieu about nothing. and if i were asked by governor romney, that's what i would urge him to do as well. >> do you think there may be a little fear that he has the tendency to go a little off script sometimes, wes? >> well, to be quite honest, i don't think christie regrets that comment. if you asked him, he would say the same thing again. this is also playing the assumption governor christie wanted to be asked. i think he's been clear he's not a good number two. that he wouldn't be the right person to stay and be a vice president for anybody. and in addition to that, he knows his history. he knows the fact that the last vice president that has ascended to the presidency was george h.w. bush. who then later on ended up winning the presidency was fdr. so i think he knows that having a chance to be the keynote at

the republican national convention and not necessarily be the vice president for mitt romney might be the best seat for him for future prospects. >> now, karen, he raises a point. because a keynote is a big deal and he's a big player in the republican party. for example, in 2004 the keynote at the democratic convention was barack obama. it helped to launch him all the way to the white house. so this is no putting him to the side. >> it's a very big deal. it's the kind of thing at this point, this phase in the campaign the rnc and romney campaign make that decision together. it's a coveted spot. it absolutely puts that person front and center and says this is somebody who we think represents our party. he's an up and comer. he's popular with the base of the party. he's an up and comer. that's part of their narrative. he's also someone, now that the republican party has actually

learned or are learning how to talk about the middle class, we haven't heard that much from them in the last several years. we only heard it from democrats. now we've got mitt romney talking about the people serving at fund raisers and acknowledging that middle class people and poor people, we have to be concerned about them. this governor also speaks to that kind of blue collar middle class worker. part of this is perhaps a shift with the republican party to saying maybe we should talk about the middle class. maybe that'll get us some votes. >> now, christie -- wes, christie once admits that he wouldn't make a good running mate back in january. you said not a good number two guy. let me play you something he said. >> i don't expect to be asked. i've said this over and over again. i don't think i'm the type of personality who is going to be asked to be vice president by anybody. i mean, they'd have to hire a food taster. >> wes? that was your point.

>> that was the point. but i think, you know, another important point to remember about all this, you could make an argument there have been only really three elections where the vice president selection or lack of have mattered. lyndon b. johnson by john f. kennedy. you could argue that al gore not selecting bob graham in florida when he was the most popular politician by far in florida could have helped eliminate the controversy in the 2000 election. and the selection that john mccain made of picking sarah palin particularly after the financial crisis. we're really talking about three elections in modern history where this has probably made a very big deal in terms of the determining the election. and that's something mitt romney is also keeping in mind as he's thinking about his selection on this. >> karen, wes, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> thanks, rev. up next, we'll follow rush

limbaugh's batman conspiracy theory to its illogical conclusion. stay with us. ask me what it's like when my tempur-pedic moves.

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by now you've probably heard about rush b limbaugh's big conspiracy about the batman movie. >> the villain in "the dark knight rises" is named baine. do you think that it is accidental that the name of the really vicious, fire breathing, four-eyed whatever it is villain in this movie is named baine? >> he's hilarious. and today fox business picked up that ball and ran with it. >> is it mere coincidence that the name of the villain is baine?

>> incredible. i guess these comic book writers have been working on this conspiracy for a long time. bane first showed up in 1997. >> i wasn't talking about the comic book creators. i was talking about hollywood. i read stories two nights ago about how this was a plan the democrats had was an attempt to link the character in the movie to romney. >> oh, yeah. good point. it's the hollywood conspiracy against mitt romney. anti-romney movies have been out there for decades. like the 2003 film "willard." what a coincidence that it's a horror film. and of course "the pirates of the caribbean." movie