Carter said the Republican nominee was not able to distance himself from the comments. Carter: Obama thankful for 47% tape

Former President Jimmy Carter said Thursday that President Barack Obama thanked his grandson James Carter IV last week for being involved in the public release of the video tape of Mitt Romney making his infamous comments about “47 percent” of Americans.

“When James went to meet President Obama, President Obama ran across the room, embraced him and thanked him profusely for his time, by the way,” Carter told CNN’s Piers Morgan in an interview.


( WATCH: Obama campaign ad attacking 47 percent remarks)

Carter added: “I don’t think he said ‘winning the election’ but thank you for helping me with the election. I don’t know exactly what the words were.”

The former president told Morgan that Romney was not able to distance himself from the comments, in which he said at private Florida fundraiser last May that “47 percent” of Americans were “dependent” on the government and would vote for Obama no matter what.

A political opposition researcher, James Carter reportedly was the go-between in providing Mother Jones with the tape last September ahead of the November election.

“It was something [Romney] could not deny and it stuck with him for the rest of the election and I think it was a major factor, if not the major factor,” Carter said of Romney to Morgan on CNN.

When Morgan joked that Carter’s grandson won Obama the election, Carter laughed and replied: “I think so.”

James Carter and Carter’s other grandson, Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter, met with Obama last week when the president was in Atlanta.

Last year, Carter told Morgan in an interview that he and Obama did not have much of a relationship, and when asked about that on Thursday, the former president said their relationship was “about the same.”

This article tagged under: Barack Obama

Jimmy Carter