Trump campaign acknowledges Obama was born in US

 

The Trump campaign has acknowledged in a statement that President Obama was born in the US.

The Republican candidate had been a leader of the "birther" movement that questioned Hawaii-born Mr Obama's citizenship.

But his campaign now accuses his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of introducing the "smear" during the 2008 Democratic nomination contest.

There is no evidence to link Mrs Clinton to the birthers.

In reaction she tweeted that President Obama's successor "cannot and will not be the man who led the racist birther movement".

 

The claim is a conspiracy theory that Mr Obama was actually born in Kenya and is therefore ineligible to be president.

Reports in various US publications suggest it was circulated in 2008 by die-hard supporters of Mrs Clinton as it became clear that she was not going to win the Democratic nomination.

However there is no evidence that Mrs Clinton or her then campaign had anything to do with it.

The claim enjoyed a revival with some supporters of Republican candidate John McCain as he fell behind Mr Obama in polls, the Fact Check website reported.

The billionaire became a vocal questioner of Mr Obama's citizenship as he was running for a second term as president.


In April 2011, Mr Trump challenged Mr Obama to show his birth certificate, gaining approval from Republicans including former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

Weeks later Mr Obama released his actual birth certificate from his native state of Hawaii. At that year's White House correspondents dinner, Mr Obama made light of the allegations, mocking Donald Trump.

The 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney referred to the discredited theory at a campaign rally in August that year, joking that no-one had asked to see his birth certificate - drawing swift condemnation from the Obama campaign.