'If I were a fanatic I'd let off nuclear bomb in Chicago': Romney brands Iran 'crazy people' in new secretly filmed outburst



Republican presidential candidate was secretly filmed at a $50,000-a-plate dinner for wealthy party donors

Romney is shown suggesting a terrorist could hold America to ransom by threatening to blow up Chicago

In another clip he describes Democratic voters as 'freeloaders who don't pay taxes'

Romney launches counteroffensive by pointing to newly-found 1998 clip of Obama saying he favors 'redistribution of wealth'



Mitt Romney’s White House bid took another blow last night after he appeared to suggest a pro-Iranian terrorist could hold America to ransom by threatening to blow up Chicago with a nuclear bomb.



In one of the most bizarre remarks ever made by a presidential candidate, the Republican challenger outlined how he might carry out an attack – comments critics claimed exposed America’s weaknesses.

They were revealed just hours after videotapes of Mr Romney showed him making a series of derogatory remarks about Americans, Palestinians, Mexicans and the Chinese.

Scroll down for video



Caught on tape: Mitt Romney shares his laissez-faire approach to solving the 'Palestinian Problem' at a dinner for wealthy donors in Boca Raton, Florida

Doubling down: Romney has refused to back away from comments he made during a private fundraiser -- instead saying they could spark a debate about the size of government

Visitors: Romney offered his daughter-in-law Jenn and five of grandchildren a tour of campaign jet

‘If I were Iran – a crazed fanatic, I’d say let’s get a little fissile material to Hezbollah, have them carry it to Chicago, and then if anything goes wrong, or America starts acting up, we’ll just say, “Guess what? Unless you stand down, why, we’re going to let off a dirty bomb.



‘I mean this is where we have – where America could be held up and blackmailed by Iran, by the mullahs, by crazy people. So we don’t have any option but to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon.’

In another secretly filmed video clip, Mr Romney claimed there was no point trying to appeal to Democratic voters because they were ‘freeloaders who don’t pay taxes’.

‘There are 47 per cent who are with Barack Obama, who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims,’ he said.



‘These are people who pay no income tax. My job is not to worry about those people.’



Family man: Romney spent time with his grandchildren, left to right: Owen, 5, Gracie, 9, Wyatt, 7, Nash, 3, and Sawyer, 1, on his campaign plane on Tuesday

Home: Romney returned to his ancestral home of Salt Lake City on Tuesday for a campaign rally

In another video, he fires a broadside at the Palestinians, saying: ‘I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, committed to the destruction of Israel, and I say there’s just no way [there will be peace].’



And he can be heard joking he would have an easier time winning the US election in November if his father had Mexican parents, instead of being a state governor and wealthy car company boss.

In the same video, Mr Romney also tells how he considered investing in a sweatshop-like factory in China when he was head of US private equity giant Bain Capital.



Damage control: Romney responded quickly to the Mother Jones secret tape saying his remarks were not 'elegantly stated'

The businessman – who recently criticised Mr Obama for ‘spending 43 months failing to confront China’s unfair trade practices’ was given a tour of the factory in the 1990s, where 20,000 women earned tiny wages and lived in squalid conditions.



He said: ‘As we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked the pittance they earned.



‘And around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and guard towers. And we said gosh, I can’t believe that you, you know, keep these girls in.



‘And they said, no, no, no. This is to keep other people from coming in. Because people want so badly to work in this factory that we have to keep them out’. US news channel CNN said sources revealed Bain did not invest in the firm or buy it.

The videos, which were all taped during a $50,000-a-plate dinner for wealthy donors in Florida, surfaced as the presidential campaign enters its final 50 days.



Snippets were placed online in YouTube films by Mother Jones, a liberal magazine, which said it obtained them from a guest at the dinner hosted by millionaire US financier Marc Leder on May 17.



The footage was unearthed with the help of former Democrat president Jimmy Carter’s grandson, James, who is credited with ‘research assistance’ on its website.



Last night, Jim Messina, Mr Obama’s campaign manager, said: ‘It’s shocking that a candidate for President would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as ‘victims’ entitled to handouts, and are unwilling to take 'personal responsibility' for their lives.



‘It’s hard to serve as a president when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.’



Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian lawmaker and scholar, said Mr Romney’s remarks were ‘irresponsible and dangerous’.



Mission: Jimmy Carter's grandson James says he had been researching films on Republicans 'almost every day' and that he did it 'just for fun'

However, the politician said he stood by the remarks which were ‘not elegantly stated’.

The fundraiser where Romney made the fateful remarks was thrown in May by hedge fund manager Marc Leder, who has developed a reputation as a party boy.



Mr Leder, who is worth a reported $400million, runs Sun Capital Partners in Boca Raton, Florida.



The New York Post reports that he threw a lurid end-of-summer party in the Hamptons last year at a mansion he rented for $500,000 a month.



The raucous gathering included at least one couple that stripped down naked in the pool and then had sex on the pool deck in full view of other party guests. All of this took place to the backdrop of go-go dancers, fire twirlers and throbbing techno music.

Mr Leder, 50, reportedly kicked up his partying lifestyle after his wife of 22 years cheated on him with her 23-year-old tennis instructor.



Gracious host: Marc Leder, the hedge fund manager who sponsored the Romney fundraiser, has a reputation for throwing wild parties

Obama has been working hard to make political hay out of Romney's comments at the fundraiser. During an interview with David Letterman late Tuesday, the president accused his Republican challenger of dividing the nation.



'My expectation is that if you want to be president, you have to work for everyone, not just for some,' he said. 'What I think people want to be sure of is you are not writing off big chunks of the country because the way our democracy works.'

He also criticized Romney for saying 47 percent of Americans think of themselves as 'victims,' saying the American Dream is alive and well among all of the voters he meets.



Romney didn't score marks for his choice of words -- even from his own running mate, who called the comments 'obviously inarticulate.'

Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan made the comment in an interview aired Tuesday by KRNV-TV in Reno, Nevada.

Asked what he thought of Romney's remarks, Ryan told the Nevada station: "He was obviously inarticulate in making this point." Ryan went on to say the point the Republicans are making is that, under the Obama economy, government dependency is up and economic stagnation is up.



Meanwhile, Republican launched a counteroffensive in an attempt to regain momentum. Appearing on Fox News on Tuesday, Romney pointed to a secret 1998 tape of Obama saying he wants to redistribute wealth in the United States.



Hitting back: President Obama said Romney's remarks were not fitting for a national leader. He said a president must represent all Americans

Then-Illinois state senator said: 'The trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution.

'Because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make to make sure everybody has got a shot.'

The audio of the tape was posted on YouTube on Tuesday and dated October 1998.



Romney says it shows a clear division between the vision of America that he is offering and the ideals that Obama espouses.



'Frankly, we have two different views about America. The president’s view is one of a larger government. There is a tape that came out where is the president is saying he likes redistribution. I disagree,' Romney told Fox News.

'I think a society based upon a government-centered nation where government plays a larger and larger role, redistributes money, that’s the wrong course for America. That will not build a strong America or help people out of poverty.'