GOP's Priebus: Reid a 'dirty liar' for claiming to know Romney didn't file taxes

close

Video

RNC chair: Harry Reid a 'dirty liar'

Reince Priebus slams Senate leader's tax attacks on Romney

Republicans on Sunday attacked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for purporting that Mitt Romney has not paid taxes in 10 years, with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus calling the Nevada Democrat a “dirty liar.”

Reid said his information came from an investor in Bain Capital, the company Romney started, and made the accusation Thursday from the Senate floor. He has yet to offer evidence to support the claim and even has said he's not sure it's true. Reid made the claim to a reporter earlier in the week.

“I’m not going to respond to a dirty liar who hasn't filed a single page of tax returns himself,” Priebus said on ABC’s “This Week” about Reid’s claim. “He complains about people with money, but lives in the Ritz Carlton here down the street.”

Earlier in the show, Democratic National Committee Chairman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz defended Reid’s right to make such statements.

“Everyone is responsible for saying things they say they have information on,” said Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida. “Reid says he has a credible source.”

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham also on Sunday said he thinks Reid is "lying about his statement of knowing something about Romney."

Reid is just "making things up" to divert the campaign from "the real issues," he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Romney on Friday said he has paid taxes “every year, and a lot of taxes.”

“Harry is simply wrong, and that’s why I’m so anxious for him to give us the names of the people who have put this forward," Romney said. "Harry Reid really has to put up or shut up.”

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson, said in an email that "it's clear Mitt Romney is hiding something, and the only way for him to clear this up is to be straight with the American people and release his tax returns."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.