Am I right to conclude that prior to turning his assets over to a blind trust that later sold assets in conflict with his public positions, that Romney in fact bought those assets himself?
NO!!!
None of the articles state he bought the two firms known to have business relations with Iran prior to 2003 when he opened a blind trust for his investments. Malt, the trustee, stated he sold the assets. That would be sometime after 2003. The articles do state Bain & Co, Romney's former employer had business dealings with companies which did business with Iran in 2004 and 2005. This suggests to me that the blind trust bought the assets sometime after 2003 and when it was sensed that could be a political liability the trustee sold the offending assets.
An alternative interpretation to which you allude involves Romney's statements that "from this time forward" he would not tolerate etc etc. This may suggest to some that Romney bought the assets prior to 2003 but his statement is still consistent with the trust buying the assets.
Regardless none of the articles makes that statement Romney knowingly bought the assets himself.
Pretty much these are fact filled articles and the only reason I read this branch was because it is the "bomb Iran" thread, otherwise I consider this a non-issue.
