Trump spoke against a backdrop of veterans in a sprawling ballroom at his new Washington hotel.
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“Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy”.
But that announcement wasn’t without anticipation.
The US Republican presidential nominee sought to draw a line under the so-called birther movement he has led since 2011 to discredit the country’s first black president by suggesting he was born outside the country and therefore illegitimately elected as the US president.
On Friday morning, however, Trump declined to say whether he agreed with his campaign’s statement, telling CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo that he would reveal his position in a “major statement” later that day – and until then, “We have to keep the suspense going”. There’s a big difference between what fringe supporters of Clinton said at the time, who were disavowed by the candidate, and the campaign Trump himself undertook in the subsequent years.
Moments later Trump said that Obama was born in the United States, but did not say anything about the apology.
She said that he refused to say Obama was born in the USA previously “because he needed people to come to the opening of his hotel, because for Trump it’s only about his business, it’s only about what is good for him”.
He didn’t really say why. When the issue came up during the current election cycle, Trump refused to speak about it, but held a press conference on Friday where he chose to blame #Hillary Clinton for the movements start, as reported by Mediaite on September 16. Trump’s attempt to whitewash history and blame his years of birtherism on Hillary Clinton provides insight into the kind of president that he will be. “But you know, honestly, I don’t want to get in it”, he said.
The President said he planned to spend the day celebrating his USA citizenship with his family.
“President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period”. “I just don’t want to answer it yet”.
Over the years, Trump had tweeted several challenges to Obama and others regarding the issue, one time urging hackers to find Obama’s college records, which he has refused to release, “and check ‘place of birth'”.
Trump demanded publicly for months that Obama release his longform birth certificate. He started this silliness years ago by saying that President Obama is not an American citizen.
Reporters at the press conference Friday were irritated that Trump did not respond to their questions, which were shouted from the back of the room.
But he revived the birther controversy on Thursday in an interview with the Washington Post when he declined to say whether he believed Obama was born in Hawaii. I think most other people were as well.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Economic Club of New York luncheon in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 15, 2016.
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Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook called Trump’s remarks Friday “disgraceful”, “appalling” and “sickening”.
