Rove Blasts Obama 'Hypocrisy' for Not Revealing 2008 Donors

WASHINGTON — Republican strategist Karl Rove is blasting President Barack Obama for "being hypocritical" in suggesting that the GOP is receiving foreign donations for campaign activity leading up to the midterm elections.

Rove said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that the GOP doesn't accept donations from overseas, noting it would be illegal. He accused Obama of demanding that Republicans release donor information even though he declined to release such information in 2008.

With control of Congress hanging in the balance, the parties have been trading harsh accusations.

Rove alleged Tuesday that Obama had "no problem" with keeping his donors secret and is protesting now only because "Republicans have taken up and started doing what Democrats have been doing for years."

Because of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, companies can donate an unlimited amount of funds anonymously. During a campaign stop in Pennsylvania Monday, Vice President Biden accused Rove of raising money from “shady sources” and even challenged Rove to “tell me that this money isn’t coming billionaires and millionaires, insurance companies, oil companies, major executives who have about as much in common and concern with the people in north east Pennsylvania as I don’t know what.”

Rove passed on Biden’s challenge – but when asked about Obama’s accusation that those unknown donors could be “foreign-owned companies” he said the money is not coming from foreign companies, according to ABC.

“We do not solicit foreign entities and we tell people that we will not accept foreign money and it is illegal since 1907 for foreign money to be involved in American political campaigns,” he said. “We have it on our materials that no foreign money can or will be received. And let me just tell you, all the area codes I’m dialing are inside the United States.”

At the center of the controversy is a group Rove has raised money for, Crossroads GPS, that does not disclose its donors.

Crossroads GPS has spent millions on political advertising this election season but does not have to reveal the names of their donors to the Federal Elections Commission because it is structured as a tax-exempt "social welfare" 501(c)(4) organization. The group has faced allegations it is bending campaign finance laws because of its involvement in political activity despite claiming to be a so-called "social welfare" group, according to CNN.

Rove has called out Obama in unusually biting language, complaining he and his surrogates crossed the line by accusing the GOP of a crime by accepting campaign cash from foreign donors.

"Have these people no shame? Does the president of the United States have such little regard for the office that he holds that he goes out there and makes these kind of baseless charges against his political enemies?" Rove thundered on "Fox News Sunday."