“This kind of talk should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate”.
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The mogul-turned-politico pointedly did not apologise, nor did he walk back similarly baseless claims that Obama – whose father was a Kenyan Muslim – founded the violent Islamic State group.
He also falsely claimed that the conspiracy theory was started by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign.
“I’m inspired”, she said, listing Clinton’s positions in public service and rejecting arguments that Clinton was not an inspiring figure. “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know”, he continued.
“Being president isn’t anything like reality tv”.
In recent months, Trump has largely retreated from granting television interviews to anyone other than Trump sycophants like Sean Hannity and Fox & Friends. Who cares right now?
The birther conspiracy movement is aimed at challenging the legality of Obama’s presidency – the U.S Constitution requires that a president be a natural-born citizen.
The controversy reignited Thursday when Trump again demurred on Obama’s citizenship, forcing his campaign into damage control.
Mr Trump ignored questions from reporters about his switch and has yet to explain why he abandoned the “birther” stance that fuelled his political fame and was viewed by critics as an attempt to delegitimise the nation’s first African-American president.
“His campaign was founded on this outrageous lie”.
“He’s feeding into the worst impulses, the bigotry and bias that lurks in our country”, she added. Many say the fact that Trump spent years questioning President Barack Obama’s national origin was disrespectful, and an insult to all black Americans.
Trump suggested Clinton’s security detail should give up their guns and “see what happens to her”.
The Republican presidential candidate has long incorrectly suggested his Democratic opponent wants to overturn the Second Amendment and take away Americans’ right to own guns.
“I think what we should do is she goes around with armed bodyguards, like you have never seen before”. “Take their guns away”, he said. She doesn’t want guns. “Take their guns, let’s see what happens to her”, Trump said. “It’ll be very unsafe”.
The Clinton campaign reacted quickly, with spokesman Robby Mook saying Mr Trump “has a pattern of inciting people to violence”.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles as he arrives to a campaign rally at the James L. Knight Center, Friday, Sept. 16, 2016, in Miami.
Trump, who has won back some ground in opinion polls and made the White House race more competitive after he went through a summer slump, made his announcement in an attempt to clear the air as he prepares for the first of three televised presidential debates with Clinton on September 26.
She said her husband had answered slanders through legislative achievements and “by going high when they go low”, as she encouraged supporters to go to the polls. Friday marked the first time he said in no uncertain terms Obama was US born, but he left without taking questions and did not explain how or when he’d come to that conclusion.
“I’m shocked that a question like that has come up at a time when we have so many other things to do”. “I was pretty confident about where I was born”.
When he asked the crowd who would pay for it, the audience roared: “Mexico!”
Donald trump tries to put to rest one controversy, but stirs up another.
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“And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like, did we fake the moon landing? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”
