Carter told Daily Intel that he first noticed a portion of the video in which Romney discusses using Chinese labor while working at Bain Capital. That clip, uploaded by a YouTube user named "RomneyExposed" in late May, and then again in late August by an account called "Rachel Maddow" that has since been deleted, eventually made it to Buzzfeed and Daily Kos.*
Additional pieces of the tape were then added to a YouTube account called "Anne Onymous" starting three weeks ago. "There was a minor uproar about it on Twitter when I found [the first clip], so I kept doing research on it and that eventually led me to be able to narrow down who it originated from," said Carter. Via Twitter, he contacted the person who claimed to have secretly taped and uploaded the video, and then sought to help publicize the remarks. "That seemed to be the purpose of [the filming] — to get it to a larger audience," Carter said.
Having worked with Corn before, Carter noted, "It was a natural fit." He put the anonymous video source in touch with the Mother Jones reporter and then butted out, knowing he was onto something. "Any time that you can find a clip that strengthens the narrative already established, that's what becomes a big deal," Carter explained. "I've been trying to get paid for this but it hasn't worked out yet. This might help."
*This post originally stated that the video was first uploaded by the YouTube user "Rachel Maddow," but the account "RomneyExposed" came earlier.
