Obama camp now acknowledges knowing man's story

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki acknowledged Thursday that the campaign was no longer pleading ignorance about the story of a man who has appeared in both a super PAC ad and a campaign ad.

"No one is denying he was in one of our campaign ads. He was on a conference call telling his story," Psaki told reporters on Air Force One.

Missouri steelworker Joe Soptic starred in an Obama campaign ad and participated in a conference call with the campaign in May, as POLITICO reported Wednesday. He resurfaced this week in a Priorities USA Action super PAC ad, charging that his wife died of cancer after Mitt Romney's former private equity firm laid him off.

Distancing themselves from the controversial ad, Obama campaign staffers initially denied knowledge of Soptic's story — despite the fact that he was in an Obama campaign ad.

Adviser Robert Gibbs said he didn’t know "specifics," while deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said on CNN: “I don’t know the facts about when Mr. Soptic’s wife got sick or the facts about his health insurance."

And yesterday on Air Force One, Psaki said, "we don’t have any knowledge of the story of the family." (Continues with Update)