Seth Meyers: Trump Lies About His Birther Past

Funny. Total take-down of the Trumpster's lie that he "finished" the Birther issue.

Late Night with Seth Meyers takes "A Closer Look" at the Donald Trump/Birther issue.

This is how you handle a someone like Trump.

Take notes Jimmy Fallon.

Campaign Ad: Donald Trump Lies "Even When He's Admitting The Truth"

From the Hillary Clinton campaign on Donald Trump's "Full Flop" on the Birther movement he started, and made even wilder today.

"Donald Trump has spent years peddling lies about President Obama. And that didn't stop today."

Donald Trump has spent years peddling lies about President Obama.

And that didn't stop today. pic.twitter.com/KzgPQgPjxK

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 16, 2016

Donald Trump: President Obama Was Born In The United States. Period.

With a wave of his hand and two short sentences, Donald Trump tries to make the 'birther' issue magically disappear without taking any responsibility for trying to delegitimize Barack Obama's presidency.

"Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it, you know what I mean. President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period."

Donald Trump: "President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period." https://t.co/sKvdenBYQW

— ABC News (@ABC) September 16, 2016

Please note how different media outlets announced the news. I think Buzzfeed gets it right.

Campaign Ad: "Birther-In-Chief"

New campaign ad from the Hillary Clinton campaign reminding us all Donald Trump's history on "birtherism."

Hell Freezes Over - Donald Trump Admits President Obama Was Born In USA

The news unfolded tonight thusly:

First, Republican presidential candidate and foremost birther conspiracy theorist Donald Trump refused to admit whether or not President Obama was born in the USA.

From Washington Post:

In the interview, conducted late Wednesday aboard his private plane as it idled on the tarmac here, Trump suggested he is not eager to change his pitch or his positions even as he works to reach out to minority voters, many of whom are deeply offended by his long-refuted suggestion that Obama is not a U.S. citizen. Trump refused to say whether he believes Obama was born in Hawaii.

“I’ll answer that question at the right time. I just don’t want to answer it yet,” Trump said.

When asked whether his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was accurate when she said recently that he now believes Obama was born in this country, Trump responded: “It’s okay. She’s allowed to speak what she thinks. I want to focus on jobs, I want to focus on other things.”

He added, “I don’t talk about it anymore. The reason I don’t is because then everyone is going to be talking about it as opposed to jobs, the military, the vets, security.”

And within minutes of that statement, Jason Miller of the Trump campaign released a statement saying Donald Trump does, in fact, believe the President was born in Hawaii.

Via NPR:

Hillary Clinton's campaign first raised this issue to smear then-candidate Barack Obama in her very nasty, failed 2008 campaign for President. This type of vicious and conniving behavior is straight from the Clinton Playbook. As usual, however, Hillary Clinton was too weak to get an answer. Even the MSNBC show Morning Joe admits that it was Clinton's henchmen who first raised this issue, not Donald J. 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. 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. Inarguably, Donald J. Trump is a closer. Having successfully obtained President Obama's birth certificate when others could not, Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States.

As has been mentioned many, many times, the idea that Hillary Clinton originated the 'birther' theory has been debunked as false. In 2015, PolitiFact proved the claim to be false. "Clinton's campaign, one of the most thoroughly dissected in modern history, never raised questions about the future president's citizenship."

A couple of things here.

If Trump felt the "ugly incident" was brought to a close in 2011, why did it take over five years for him to admit it? Because he was still promoting the idea a year later. See the tweet below from 2012:

Also, note that the statement is not directly from Trump but a surrogate. When will we hear the actual words from Trump himself? Trump should either own it or denounce it himself - not a surrogate.

My thoughts are that Trump wanted this off the table before the first presidential debate. But does it? Surely there will be questions like mine?

NBC News' Katy Tur Schools Trump Surrogate On Trump's "Birther" History

After almost 15 months on the campaign trail reporting on the Donald Trump campaign, NBC News reporter Katy Tur was not having Trump surrogate Jack Kingston try and pretend that Trump has recanted his long-held claim that President Obama was not born in the United States.

Lately, several of Trump's surrogates have attempted to assert that the Donald admitted he was wrong on the issue long ago. When in truth, he has never acknowledged his crusade to "prove" Obama was born in Kenya was folly.

Watch Katy Tur plow right through Kingston as she shares what she has heard from Trump supporters every day for the last 14 months.

One of the highlights of the campaign coverage so far. @KatyTurNBC uses Trump surrogate Jack Kingston as a mop. pic.twitter.com/N64CNbmoB7

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) September 10, 2016

White House Spokesman Enjoys "Irony" Of Donald Trump/Ted Cruz "Birther" Kerfuffle

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked about the current Donald Trump/Ted Cruz kerfuffle about Cruz's "eligibility" to be elected president given he was born in Canada.

For the record - yes, Sen. Cruz is a natural-born American since his mother was an American.

Earnest gets a bit of a smile here as he comments on the possible irony of the situation given the years of ridiculous questions about President Obama's birth certificate.

Says Earnest, “It would be quite ironic if after 7 or 8 years of drama around the president’s birth certificate if Republican primary voters were to choose Senator Cruz as their nominee. Somebody who actually wasn’t born in the United States and only 15 months ago renounced his Canadian citizenship.”

On another note - Mr. Earnest is quite the good looking guy, no?  :)

Ann Coulter Goes 'Birther' On Ted Cruz

NYT: Cruz was born outside the U.S. to 1 American parent: "Under the Constitution this makes him a 'natural born citizen.'” Absolutely false

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 6, 2016

Same lawyers who said anchor babies are in the Constitution now tell us being born outside U.S to 1 American parent = natural born citizen.

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 6, 2016

It looks like right-wing loon Ann Coulter went "full birther" today when she took to Twitter to question whether Sen. Ted Cruz is eligible to run for president due to his being born in Canada.

This is a big u-turn for Coulter who as recently as 2013 said that Cruz was, in fact, a "natural born" citizen of the United States, and thus eligible.

In 2009, she called the 'birther' movement an "embarrassment" to the Republican party.

See her tweet from 2013 below:

TED CRUZ CAN RUN FOR PRESIDENT! I worried on @seanhannity @ his Calgary birth, But his mother was a US citizen, so he was born a citizen.

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) February 14, 2013

(h/t TPM)

Chris Matthews Asks Donald Trump If He's Still A "Birther"

In a post-debate interview last night in Las Vegas, MSNBC's Chris Matthews asked GOP front-runner Donald Trump is he still believes President Obama wasn't born in the USA.

Trump refused to answer the question:

“I should not tell you this, but I do watch you a lot. So I knew you were going to ask that question. And you know what I’ll say: I don’t talk about that anymore. You know the problem talking about that question? Here’s the story. I don’t answer because you know what? If I do answer, that’s all people want to talk about I don’t answer that question because once I answer the question, they don’t want to talk about the economy, they don’t want to talk about all the other... I don’t want to answer the question. I don’t want to answer the question.”

Before ending the segment, Matthews did come back to the issue to say:

“I do think that’s a blemish. I think it’s your original sin. I’m an American. I think our president should be respected. And I think there’s a little ethnic aspect to it. I don’t like it…It’s not a good thing about you.”

Check the 5:00 mark below:

Let's Play "Born In The USA"

A recent Public Policy Poll shows that 40% of Republicans believe GOP White House hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz was born in the United States, and only 29% believe that Obama was.

For the record:

President Obama was born in Hawaii.

Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta. That would be Canada.

This tells us a LOT about the low-information Tea Party conservatives.

(source)

Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold cannot say President Obama was "legitimately" elected

On Hardball last night, Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas chatted with host Chris Matthews about a number of issues.

At one point Matthews asked about Sen. Ted Cruz’s eligibility to run for President, because he was born in Canada. Matthews has long maintained that Cruz, who has an American mother, is indeed eligible to be president. However, many in the Tea Party maintain that President Obama was not legitimately elected because they don't believe he was born in Hawaii even though the Republican governor of the state released his birth certificate.

“I believe he’s (Cruz) is eligible. He had an American mother. I believe you’re a natural born citizen. Do you agree with that?” Matthews asked the congressman.

Farenthold replied, “Listen, we’ve had this discussion on Obama… He’s as eligible as Obama is.”

Ultimately, Matthews said, “Can you repeat after me: he was legitimately elected president.”

Farenthold repeated, but with a key word left out: “President Obama was elected president”

“Legitimately,” said Matthews.

“The people elected him,” Farenthold said, refusing to say “legitimately.”

Matthews concluded: “Everybody watching knows what you’re doing. You’re dodge balling.”

What is with these people? SRSLY.

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Mitt Romney goes for the "birther" joke

Campaigning in Michigan on Friday, he made a joke about President Obama's birth certificate. Here's what he said:

"Now, I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised, where both of us were born. Ann was born at Henry Ford Hospital, I was born at Harper Hospital. No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised."

As a literal statement, this isn't true. People have asked to see Romney's birth certificate, and his campaign released it, with little fanfare, earlier this year. As a "joke," it isn't very funny. And as a reference to the controversy-that-won't-die over the president's origins, it's a venture into very perilous territory for Romney.

More at The Atlantic

Update:  JoeMyGod points out that President Obama showed his sense of humor in responding:

Trump doubles down on "birther" issue

SRSLY folks... The Donald is getting more and more outrageous by stand pat on this.

The state of Hawaii has certified the birth certificate. The more Repubs bet on this, the less seriously you can take them.

Look out - clown car swerving this way...