America’s current political jester Donald Trump has fed his unquenchable need for attention by repeatedly touting the disproven “birther” myth. Trump purportedly sent a team of researchers to Hawaii on a quixotic search to disprove the fact that President Obama was born in Hawaii. However, when asked what he has found, Trump repeatedly demurred — telling reporters “I’ll let you know that at a future date” and that “it’s none of your business.”
But CNN’s Anderson Cooper made it his business to find out who Trump’s crack team is actually talking to in Hawaii and, in a two-part interview, confronted Trump about his research. Trump informed Cooper that he just learned the the birth certificate is “not there and it doesn’t exist.” Who told him that? “Somebody,” Trump said:
TRUMP: Well I’ve been told very recently Anderson that the birth certificate is missing. I’ve been told that it’s not there and it doesn’t exist. And if that’s the case, that’s a big problem.
COOPER: Who told you that?
TRUMP: I just heard that two days ago from somebody.
COOPER: From your investigators?
TRUMP: I don’t want to say who. But I’ve been told that the birth certificate is not there, it’s missing.[…]
COOPER: Can you name even one person who your investigators have talked to?
TRUMP: I don’t want to do that right now. It’s not appropriate right now.
Watch it:
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CNN researchers decided to save Trump the trouble and actually investigate. First, they spoke with Dr. Chiyome Fukino, former Hawaii Department of Health Director and a Republican, who took advantage of a state law allowing her to see President Obama’s birth certificate stored in a vault. Fukino declared the certificate “absolutely authentic.” She even put disputed Trump’s suggestion that Obama is hiding that he’s a Muslim to rest, pointing out that no birth certificate from that time mentions faith.
Aware of Trump’s concern that no one remembers baby Obama, CNN went ahead and found them too. Not only did Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) reiterate his memory of celebrating the birth with Obama’s mother, but so did Dunham’s college adviser and another mother giving birth in the hospital when Obama was born. She remembered because “in those days, there were hardly any other black babies.”
The repeated debunking of the birther conspiracy has convinced numerous Republicans that Trump offers nothing but a “joke” candidacy. Last night, Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) told CNN’s John King that this issue “is leading our country down a path of destruction.” Americans agree, with 64 percent saying “they would definitely not vote for Trump in 2012” and half of all Americans believing he’d be a “poor” or “terrible” leader. This, however, seems to be another fact Trump will entirely ignore.
Update:
Yesterday, Fox News anchor Shep Smith stated unequivocally, “Fox News can confirm that the President of The United States is a citizen of the United States, period.” Watch it:
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