Romney's 'not telling the American people the truth,' Gingrich says. | AP Photos Newt: Shocking, Mitt's a liar

Newt Gingrich called Mitt Romney a liar Tuesday morning in a tense interview on the day of the Iowa caucuses.

Regarding a recent comment that somebody who will lie to win the presidency will continue to when they are in the Oval Office, Gingrich was asked on CBS’s “The Early Show” whether he was calling Mitt Romney a liar.


“Yes,” he said.

“You’re calling Mitt Romney a liar?” asked correspondent Norah O’Donnell.

“Well, you seemed shocked by it. Yes.”

Asked to elaborate, Gingrich said Romney’s pretense that he knew nothing about the super PAC that has created negative ads about him was “baloney” and that Romney wanted voters to believe that “somehow he’s magically a conservative.”

“He’s not telling the American people the truth. It’s just like his pretense that he’s a conservative,” he said. “I just think he ought to be honest to the American people and try to win as the real Mitt Romney, not try to invent a poll-driven, consultant-guided version that goes around with talking points. I think he ought to be candid. I don’t think he’s being candid.”

Gingrich added, “Do you really want a Massachusetts moderate who won’t level with you to run against Barack Obama who frankly, who frankly, will just tear him apart? He will not survive against the Obama machine.”

Romney responded to Gingrich calling him a liar on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.

“Well, I understand Newt must be very angry and I don’t exactly understand why, but look, I wish him well,” Romney said, appearing shortly after Gingrich’s attack. “It’s a long road ahead. He’s a good guy. I like he and Callista. We’ve got many months ahead of us, so I’ll leave it at that.”

Romney said he thought the negatives ads could have impacted Gingrich’s campaign, but said it is unfair for him to pin the blame for his fall in the polls to those ads.

“I’m sure they may have had an effect, but the [former] speaker has had just as much difficulty in the polls in New Hampshire as he had in Iowa, and I don’t think there are any negative ads going on there. You know, I know that it’s always tempting to look for someone to blame, but at some point, you’ve got to stop and say, ‘What things can I do better?’ ”

“And I’m going to keep battling my campaign in the way I think is best and defending my record and if the speaker decides to come after me, why, that’s part of the process. I’m ready for it and my shoulders are wide. if I can’t handle this kind of attack, why, how in the world would I handle the attack that’s going to come from President Obama?” Romney said.

Later in the day, Gingrich defended his earlier comments, denying that they represented a turn away from his vow to stay clear of negative attacks against his rivals.

“People out here have been drowning in negativity and dishonesty and I was asked questions about it,” he said on Fox News. “Now, I’m not going to personally lie about this, and I think we need to have some honesty if we’re going to clean up Washington.”

Gingrich maintained that he had been asked a “judgment question” during the CBS interview, and that he had no choice but to answer honestly. ”I’m not going to lie in an interview. … I was asked about the situation we find ourselves in,” he said.

Mackenzie Weinger contributed to this story.