Top Mitt Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom told CNN’s Gloria Borger on Friday that the candidate will not call off plans to hold an event with Donald Trump, despite his recent return to debunked conspiracy theories suggesting President Obama was not born in the United States. The Obama campaign had publicly called on Romney to stand up to Trump.
“I can’t speak for Donald Trump, Gloria, but I can tell you that Mitt Romney accepts that President Obama was born in the United States. He doesn’t view the place of his birth as an issue in this campaign. We have many serious challenges facing this country dealing with jobs in the economy. That’s where we should center our discussion. And as I said, you know, Mitt Romney has made it clear that this is not an issue for him.”
Borger pushed as to why Romney was publicly tying his campaign to Trump if he disagreed with his conspiracy theories.
“Well, you know, not too long ago, Jay Carney, the spokesman for the White House made a statement which I think is correct, and that statement was that a candidate can’t be responsible for everything that their supporters say,” Fehrnstrom said. “And in this case, Mitt Romney has made it clear that the place of the president’s birth is not an issue for him. He accepts the fact that he was born in Hawaii. And we have many important challenges facing our country, and that’s what we’d rather talk about.”
In April, the Romney campaign resoundingly condemned a Democratic strategist with no role in the Obama campaign, Hillary Rosen, for comments she made about Ann Romney’s work experience, arguing she was a proxy for the White House’s views.
