GOP National Chairman Calls Harry Reid "A Dirty Liar"

(Reuters) - The U.S. presidential campaign's war of words turned increasingly bitter on Sunday with two influential Republicans accusing the top Senate Democrat of lying when he said their party's presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, had not paid income taxes for 10 years.

Reince Priebus, the Republican Party's national chairman, called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "a dirty liar" for his accusation, based on a source that Reid has not named.

"I'm not going to respond to a dirty liar who hasn't filed a single page of tax returns himself," Priebus said in an interview on the ABC News program "This Week."

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called Reid's statement "out of bounds" and said "I think he is lying about his statement of knowing something about Romney." Graham spoke on CNN's "State of the Union." "I think he's making things up."

Romney, a wealthy former private-equity executive who is the presumptive Republican nominee in the November 6 election, has released his 2010 tax return and said he will release the 2011 when it is completed. He has strongly denied Reid's claim, made on the Senate floor on Thursday.

"Let me also say categorically: I have paid taxes every year. A lot of taxes," Romney said during a campaign stop on Friday in Las Vegas, Nevada, Reid's home state. He called on Reid to "put up or shut up" by disclosing his source.

Priebus' role as chairman of the Republican National Committee is to develop and promote the Republican political platform. He coordinates fundraising and strategy for battling Democratic President Barack Obama's re-election bid as well as congressional elections.

REID RESPONDS

Reid stood his ground on Sunday, saying through a spokesman that the issue would not go away until Romney "decides to be straight with the American people and release his tax returns."

"As Senator Reid has said, an extremely credible source informed him that Mitt Romney did not pay taxes for 10 years," Adam Jentleson, his spokesman, said in an emailed statement.

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