US election: Team Trump insists Clinton started birther theory

‘This started with Hillary Clinton’s campaign, number one,’ campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said.

Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton started the ‘birther’ controversy and that he finished it.

Donald Trump’s campaign team is standing firm on his claim that presidential rival Hillary Clinton spread the idea Barack Obama was not born in the US — days after the Republican conceded the President was an American.

“This started with Hillary Clinton’s campaign: number one,” campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said yesterday.

“Number two: it was Donald Trump who put the issue to rest when he got President Obama to release his birth certificate years later. And, number three: he said that, ‘President Obama was born in this country, period’.”

Ms Conway said Mrs Clinton’s 2008 campaign team had encouraged reporters to research Mr Obama’s citizenship.

Mike Pence, Mr Trump’s running mate, said the Republican presidential candidate’s acknowledgment on Saturday that “Obama was born in the United States, period” should have put an end to the matter.

“Donald Trump’s been focusing on issues the American people really care about,” he told the US-based ABC. “He brought that issue to an end this week.”

Asked if Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had started the so-called “birther” movement, an idea rejected by fact-checkers, Mr Pence said: “I’ll let the facts speak for themselves.”

Mr Trump spent years promoting the theory that the President might have been born in Kenya. However, he said on Saturday: “Her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know what I mean.”

Mrs Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine said the questioning of Mr Obama’s birthplace raised painful echoes of a time when blacks could not be US citizens.

The fact Mr Trump clung to the “birther” idea for so long, Mr Kaine said, meant “he’s ­either incredibly gullible or ... he was trying to prey upon people’s darkest emotions”. “That’s why Donald Trump’s statement isn’t sufficient. He owes the public an apology,” he said.

Mr Trump has pulled even with Mrs Clinton in polls but fares poorly among black voters.

Mr Obama yesterday praised Mrs Clinton for her intellect, fortitude and “unerring” judgment and blasted “the other guy” on his New York home turf as unqualified to be president and uninterested in learning enough to make hard decisions.

Mr Obama addressed a dinner crowd of about 65 people at a Democratic fundraiser at the home of restaurateur Danny Meyer. Attendees contributed $US25,000 ($33,353). Event co-chairs gave $US100,000, while chairs raised or contributed $US250,000, officials said.

Mr Obama said of Mrs Clinton: “This is somebody who is smart, who is tough and, most importantly, who cares deeply about making sure that this country works for everybody and not just a few.

“And she’s displayed it again and again and again. And when I said that I think she is somebody who is as qualified as any individual who has ever run for this ­office, I meant it.”

Mr Obama said Mrs Clinton had been disciplined and effective in every job she had held. “And then there’s the other guy,” he said, drawing laughter. “You all know him because he’s from New York. Some of you may have done business with him ... If you have, it doesn’t sound like it’s been a pleasant experience.

“He shows no interest in even gaining the rudimentary knowledge required to make really hard decisions on a day-to-day basis. There’s no curiosity, no desire to get up to speed.”

AFP, AP