(C) Common Dreams
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Birther Backpedal [1]
['Jill Colvin', 'Jonathan Lemire', 'Associated Press', 'Share On', 'Share Via']
Date: 2023-08
WASHINGTON - After five years as the chief promoter of a lie about Barack Obama's birthplace, Donald Trump abruptly reversed course Friday and acknowledged the fact that the president was born in America. He then immediately peddled another false conspiracy.
"President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period," Trump declared, enunciating each word in a brief statement at the end of a campaign appearance. "Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again."
But as the GOP presidential nominee sought to put that false conspiracy theory to rest, he stoked another, claiming that the "birther movement" was begun by rival Hillary Clinton. There is no evidence that that is true.
"Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it," Trump said.
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While the question of Obama's birthplace was pushed by some bloggers who backed Clinton's primary campaign against him eight years ago, Clinton has long denounced it as a "racist lie."
"Trump has spent years peddling a racist conspiracy aimed at undermining the first African American president," Clinton tweeted after his Friday event. "He can't just take it back."
Indeed, it is clear Trump's foes will try to keep the criticism of his actions alive. African American members of Congress held a news conference at the Capitol to denounce him immediately after his appearance.
Trump's allegation that Clinton started the controversy is the latest example of his tendency to repeat statements that are patently false.
For years, Trump has been the most prominent proponent of the "birther" idea. He used the issue to build his political profile and define his status as an "outsider" willing to challenge conventions.
Friday marked the first time Trump said in no uncertain terms that he was mistaken. As late as Wednesday, he had refused to acknowledge that Obama was born in Hawaii, declining to address the matter in a Washington Post interview published late Thursday.
"I'll answer that question at the right time," Trump said. "I just don't want to answer it yet."
Clinton seized on Trump's refusal during a speech Thursday night.
"This man wants to be our next president? When will he stop this ugliness, this bigotry?" she asked.
Hours later, Trump's campaign spokesman Jason Miller issued a statement that suggested the question had been settled five years ago - by Trump.
"In 2011, Mr. Trump was finally able to bring this ugly incident to its conclusion by successfully compelling President Obama to release his birth certificate," Miller said.
"Mr. Trump did a great service to the president and the country by bringing closure to the issue that Hillary Clinton and her team first raised," he added.
The facts do not match Miller's description. Trump repeatedly continued to question Obama's birthplace in the years after the president released his birth certificate.
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[1] Url:
https://www.inquirer.com/philly/front_page/20160917_Birther_Backpedal.html
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