President Obama was bemused Friday after the Trump campaign went on damage control about whether Trump still believes Obama was born in the U.S.
Donald Trump has ended the “birther” movement with a declaration that President Obama was born in the U.S., but not without a jab at Hillary Clinton, whom he blamed for sparking the controversy in the first place.
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"Hillary Clinton and her campaign in 2008 started the birther movement," he said Friday. "I finished it. President Obama was born in the United States of America."
It was his final words as he hosted an event honoring Medal of Honor recipients inside the Trump International Hotel grand ballroom.
President Obama was bemused Friday morning after the Trump campaign went on damage control about whether the Republican presidential candidate still believes if the Commander-in-Chief was born in America.
“We've got other business to attend to,” Obama said in the Oval Office. “I was pretty candid about where I was born. I was hoping that the presidential election reflects more serious issues than that.”
Trump was asked by The Washington Post in an article published Thursday whether he still believes President Obama wasn't born in America, saying: "I’ll answer that question at the right time. I just don't want to answer it yet."
Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961.
His campaign quickly released a statement saying: “Having successfully obtained President Obama's birth certificate when others could not, Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States."
Trump camp stmt: "Mr. Trump believes President Obama was born in the United States," & blames Clinton for birtherism pic.twitter.com/v2Ifz7kkYA
— Nick Kalman (@NickKalmanFN) September 16, 2016
Hillary Clinton pounced on his statement Thursday during an appearance at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.
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“He was asked one more time where was President Obama born, and he still wouldn’t say Hawaii. He still wouldn’t say America. This man wants to be our president?”
In 2011, Trump ramped up the "birther" movement again ahead of the Obama's re-election in 2012 and demanded that the commander-in-chief produce his birth certificate. The president did.
