BLOOMBERG NEWS
It has been more than five years since President Obama walked into the White House briefing room to (he thought) put to rest an issue that he—and most of the people around him—had thought was not an issue at all. The president released his long-form birth certificate in the hopes of finally discrediting the so-called “birther” movement. The theory, which claimed that Obama was born outside of the United States and therefore ineligible to be president, was itself born in the conspiratorial reaches of the Internet and later propagated by prominent figures such as none other than Donald Trump. Trump spent the lion's share of early 2011 pushing the idea; his actions and claims paving the way for his entry onto the national political stage, and ultimately laying the groundwork for his presidential run.
For most people, even some once-skeptical Republican lawmakers, President Obama's "revelation" that he was, in fact, born in Hawaii put an end to the debate. But on last last week the idea reared its ugly head again. In an interview with the Washington Post's Bob Costa, the Republican nominee refused to say that Obama was born in the U.S., saying "I'll answer that question at the right time. I just don't want to answer it yet." The non-confirmation/denial immediately created a political firestorm, one which Trump spokesperson Jason Miller tried to clean up on Thu by issuing a statement. But: As the nominee has previously claimed, his campaign saying something just isn't the same as him saying something himself. Miller's statement added a twist, too, giving Trump credit for bringing "this ugly incident to its conclusion" by "compelling" the president to release his birth certificate.
The truth is that Trump never definitively put the issue behind him after the birth-certificate release. But on Friday morning, he set out to do just that, holding a "press conference" (where he took no questions from reporters) at his new hotel in Washington, at which he promised to make a "big announcement." After a prolonged series of remarks (all covered, for free, by the media) from Trump supporters, the nominee finally said it: “President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period.” But Trump also couldn't resist doubling down on a key (and untrue) claim from Miller's statement, as well, saying that "Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it."
Before Trump made his comments, Clinton told an audience of largely African-American women on Friday morning that her opponent owes Obama and the American people an apology for his role in birtherism, and that his campaign was "founded on this outrageous lie." Later, President Obama—during a meeting with business leaders at the White House—told reporters that he was "pretty confident" about where he was born.
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| Aude Guerrucci/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images |