Trump: I Reversed Birther Stance ‘To Get On With’ Campaign

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Washington. Hillary Clinton has spent decades talking about the needs of children and touting the benefits of early ed... FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Washington. Hillary Clinton has spent decades talking about the needs of children and touting the benefits of early education. It’s a new subject for Donald Trump. The Republican presidential nominee added plans for education to his still relatively thin roster of policy proposals this past week, unveiling an effort to spend $20 billion during his firstw year in office to help states expand school choice programs. Trump wasn’t shy about his intentions, debuting his ideas at an inner-city charter school in Cleveland as part of his new outreach to minority voters. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) MORE LESS
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NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump says he finally admitted President Barack Obama was born in the United States because he wanted to “get on with the campaign.”

In a brief interview with an Ohio television station Wednesday, Trump was asked why, after years as the chief proponent of the falsehood that the president was born outside the country, he decided to announce Friday that was no longer the case.

What had changed his mind?

“Well, I just wanted to get on with, you know, we want to get on with the campaign,” the GOP nominee responded.

“And a lot of people were asking me questions. And you know, we want to talk about jobs, we want to talk about the military,” he added. “We want to talk about ISIS and how to get rid of ISIS. We want to really talk about bringing jobs back to this area because you’ve been decimated. So we really want to get just back onto the subject of jobs, military, taking care of our vets, et cetera.”

It was a frank statement of apparent political expediency for the billionaire businessman, who for five years had raised questions and insinuations about the president’s birthplace and the authenticity of his birth certificate. The so-called “birther” movement helped fuel Trump’s political rise, transforming him from a reality television star into a popular political figure in some Republican circles.

On Friday, Trump declared at a campaign event: “President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period.” But he did not address how or when he’d come to his conclusion, and had not answered questions on the topic since.

His rival Hillary Clinton’s campaign said in a statement that Trump’s answer was proof that he had only voiced his reversal to try to change the subject.

“After spending 5 years championing a conspiracy theory to undermine our first African American President, DonaldTrump hasn’t actually changed his mind,” spokesman Jesse Ferguson said in a statement. “He only gave his 36-second press statement last week to try to change the subject — and it didn’t work.”

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