ABC

Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter pushed back this morning on "This Week" against any suggestion that she knew the details behind the death of a woman whose husband, Joe Soptic, appeared in a third party advertisement attacking Mitt Romney.

The advertisement, which essentially places blame on Romney for the death of Soptic's wife from cancer, was paid for by Priorities USA, a super PAC that supports President Obama.

"I didn't know the facts of when Mr. Soptic's wife got sick, and I only recently learned that through all of the hysteria over that ad," Cutter said "But, Jake, what I do know is what Mr. Soptic's experience was with GST Steel, after Mitt Romney bought it, loaded it up with debt, overleveraged it, paid himself excess profits and fees, but then forced that company into bankruptcy, leaving Mr. Soptic without a job, without health care, and without his pension."

Cutter has maintained that she was not familiar with the details of Mr. Soptic's wife's death even though she was on a conference call that featured Soptic in May.

The Romney campaign lashed out at the Obama campaign for the advertisement, saying it was running a campaign composed of "ugly distortions and lies."

"They have gone from what started out as petty distortions and untruths to unbelievable exaggerations that diminish the office of the president and insult the American people," Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said.

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