Newt Gingrich warned President Obama and his campaign against further criticism of Mitt Romney's private sector record, admitting that his own attempts at using the Bain Capital line of attack were unsuccessful.
During an appearance on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight," the former House Speaker and GOP presidential candidate discussed the political fallout from Newark mayor Cory Booker's comments on Sunday's "Meet The Press." During that interview, Booker characterized Obama's attacks on Romney's business record as "nauseating," but later walked back his remarks and asserted that criticism of Romney's time at Bain is fair game.
"Booker is telling the truth about how the American people feel," Gingrich, who backed Romney after ending his own presidential bid earlier this month, said on Monday.
Speaking somewhat candidly about his own campaign's failures, Gingrich said he was "surprised" that Obama had taken the Bain Capital route after witnessing the backlash that met the former speaker when he went down a similar path.
"We found out when we got in a fight with Mitt Romney over this that it didn't work," he said. "People understand free enterprise. People realize that sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail, but they refuse to take a one-sided view of it."
When pressed by Morgan about his own attacks on Romney throughout the primary season, Gingrich maintained that while he believes that Romney's tenure at the private equity firm is likely worthy of scrutiny, he believes that such scrutiny isn't politically wise.
"I think there are things you can legitimately look at in Bain Capital," Gingrich said. "But I don't think it's politically effective."
Watch Gingrich's full segment on CNN below: