Gingrich Camp Admits Non-Kosher Robocall

(Wall Street Journal) - Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign said it "unfortunately" was behind a controversial robocall going out in Florida Tuesday that accused rival Republican Mitt Romney of forcing Holocaust survivors to eat non-kosher food.

Joe DeSantis, a top aide to the former House speaker, said that the robocall had not gone through "the normal vetting process" in the campaign and that there would not be similar calls on this topic in Nevada, the next state to hold its presidential nominating contest.

"It should have been caught," he said.

DeSantis said that he did not think Gingrich was aware of the call before it went out. Gingrich denied knowledge of the message when asked by reporters about it at a campaign stop earlier Tuesday.

The robocall draws on remarks made by Gingrich Monday in which he accused Romney of violating religious freedoms during his tenure as governor of Massachusetts and cited his decision to trim spending on kosher meals for elderly Medicaid recipients, as well as abortion provisions in the state health care law that Catholic hospitals opposed.

"Gov. Romney cut off kosher meals for Jewish senior citizens who were on Medicaid to save $5 a day. For $5 a day he said, 'No, you can't follow your religious position,'" Gingrich told an audience in Tampa Monday. "I think we need to have a government that respects our religions."

Romney's campaign has called the attacks "sad" and "desperate."

Read more: Wall Street Journal