but talk about the birther issue. he made it front and center going after president obama years ago. can he actually settle it today? >> no. look, donald trump is a fraud. first of all, my guess is that donald trump pays less taxes than most of his hard-working supporters who are hoping for change. he's a crook. and that's why this birther stuff is a distraction. he doesn't dare release his tax returns because it shows he doesn't give any money to charity and doesn't pay his taxes. i can't wait to see what is going to happen when he's asked by the press corps every day about his tax returns the way they asked hillary every day about her e-mail scandal. if there were real parody, the press corps were doing its job, donald trump would be 40 points behind because i don't think the american people are going to elect somebody who doesn't pay taxes. good if you're right, if donald trump is a crook, a fraud, explain the tightening polls. >> first of all, i think that people really do want change in this country. and trump is

but in many ways, this birther, because he was the face of the birther movement all through 2012 and not only that but engaging in many conspiracies. look through his tweets. he tries to undermine the credibility of the birth certificate that came out. he notes that the person who had verified the birth certificate died in a plane crash when nobody else on the plane died. just really dug in and so this is sort of doctrinal with the anti-obama folks which he has a lot of supporters, and so it will be interesting to see today if he actually does reverse himself, whether those people, whether it has a negative effect on them or not. >> we saw donald trump on his way to the hotel to washington, dc to make what he is promising, a big announcement, the assumption here based on reporting that we've done and some of the sources on the ground there. the working theory is that he is going to address the birther issue. hillary clinton talked about it at an event that just wrapped up roughly 15 minutes ago. here's what the democratic nominee said. >> and we know who donald is. for five years, he

leading the birther movement is deplorable. attempting to say it did a great service to the president who trump attacked is asinine." let's go straight to the clinton campaign headquarters, brian poll lon is with me, a press secretary for the campaign. brian fallon, welcome back. let's begin with the first of two false statements from mr. trump today the fact that he says it was hillary clinton who started the birther nonsense. no, she didn't. cnn has been disputing that, i know, for years. i want your reaction to that. >> absolutely that's a lie. it's been debunked on multiple occasions by independent fact checkers and i have to tip my hat to cnn and other fact checkers calling it out as a lie in realtime. i think donald trump took the stage today in washington, d.c. and thought he'd been given credit for finally acknowledging the president was yes, indeed, born in the united states of america. but i think what's clear is that donald trump is not going to get any credit for admitting a base i can fact that only a hate-filled c

wants to be a reformed birther now.? >> i want to clarify, thomas it is good to be with you but we're on the ballot in 11 states and registered as a write in no. another number of states. the total is 21. we'll be at 40 to 45 by november 8th. we're doing well in that regard. most americans will be able to cast a vote for us. with regard to the birther conspiracy and donald trump's comments today, this has been a racist conspiracy that he has done more to promote than anyone else in this country. but what i'm concerned about mostly is that the republican party and republican leaders continue to stand with donald trump even as he builds on that racist conspiracy and has advanced what i believe is a bigoted, racist campaign for the presidency. he has been supported by the movement which many people are learning about. this is a white supremacist movement in the united states and donald trump has been fueled and signaled to this movement in such a way that they have supported his campaign and even until today, to such a deg

starting in 2011, trump led the birther charge. let's watch trump's long history of questioning barack obama's legitimacy to be an american president. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate and you know what i wish he would, because i think it's a terrible pale that's hanging over him. >> nobody ever comes forward. nobody knows who he is until later in his life. it's very strange. >> he may have one but there's something on that birth certificate, maybe religion, maybe it says he's a muslim. i don't know. >> i have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding. >> you have people now down there searching in hawaii? >> absolutely. and they cannot believe what they're finding. >> i still would like to see his college records. i would like to see a couple things. trump comes along and said birth certificate. he gave a birth certificate. whether or not that was a real certificate because a lot of people question it, i certainly question it. >> a few years ago, you led the birther movement

look at what happened in the birtherisms. seven years of fuelling the controversy and he said he will not fuel it anymore and blames hillary clinton and it is that kind of way. he would have gotten a gold medal for it. >> if you look at hillary clinton's record she has not produceded results for the american people and the real change and in a variety of different ways. regardless of 40 years, what does she bring in new leadership. >> a real understanding of what people need and in the roles she's had in terms of creating health care for children after nuchl nuchl, making sure the people on the pile had health care. she's never been president of the united states. but she has an understanding and a passion of how you connect policy to making it real for real people. i have watched with donald trump and i saw the vets, when he was in new york, what he did to vets on fifth avenue. he told them to go away. >> if you are true, why are the polls close? >> i always thought it would be close. it is a transformational election. here

and then blames clen ton for starting the birther movement. we'll fact check that and show how it could backfire on trump. >> for five years he led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president. >> the birther issue is a real gift to the democrats and the clinton campaign. >> clinton had a terrible week and it's critical time. maut has new projections for next week. big news for charley. a new way to send him our viewer mail. this is money, power & politics. >> we'll start with hillary clinton because she's coming off the worst week of her political career. that's our first big point. clinton is sliding. she's lost her lead in the polls and she lost her grip on the electoral map. look at the changes. win the white house. clinton is down to 200 and trump is coming up u closing in at 163. and when you take a closer look at some of the big states up for grabs, they are tilting trump. an average of polls trump has a slight lead. very slight but lead none the less in florida. our fox 13 poll gives trump the lead in georgia. polls t

trump used the so-called birther issue to launch his political career. for days his campaign conceded the president was born in honolulu, hawaii. just a short time ago, trump said this -- >> president barack obama was born in the united states, period. now we all want to get back to making america strong and great again. thank you. >> hillary clinton today slammed trump for leading what's called the birther movement accusing him of trying to delegitimize the country's first african-american president. >> he is feeding in to the worst impulses, the bigotry and bias that lurks in our country. barack obama was born in america, plain and simple, and donald trump owes him and the american people an apology. >> and just moments ago she tweeted what trump just did is a disgrace. president obama, meanwhile, also weighed in this morning saying it's time to focus it on more important issues. >> i was pretty confident about where i was born. i think most people were as well. and my hope would be that the presidential election reflects more serious issues than that.

and that's what he did with the birther movement. what he's done throughout his presidential campaign. if you remember, the first thing he did when he announced for president was to talk about buildi ing a wall, stopping mexicans from coming in because he said they were rapists and criminals. then talked about stopping muslims and when david duke announced support, an avowed racist, trump refused to reject that support. race has always underlined racist tendencies are calling people who talk about issues people need to be affirmed in their own belief system. they want to believe that what they're believing it right. >> you know when we get off the air, social media is going to say we're racist for something this conversation. >> and i will give two flips of a coin. >> exactly. >> because i don't care if i hurt your feelings because racism is a fact of life in america, there are a lot of racist people in america, people who understand they are racist, people who don't register they are racist, it's kind of subconscious for them and we

he has been a leader in this birther movement. >> well, i know there's news reports that trace this birther movement back to hillary clinton's campaign back in 2008. >> you believe that hillary clinton started the birther movement. >> look, i'll let the facts speak for themselves. >> what's the proof of that? >> martha, look, as i travel very sincerely and very respectfully to you, this isn't what the american people are talking about. donald trump put this to an end. >> why did it take him so long to put it an end? it's not over. >> he's been talking about the need to have a stronger america at home and abroad. look, i understand why hillary clinton and many of her defenders in the national media want to distract attention from her dishonesty and her disastrous record on the foreign stage and the fact that she wants to simply continue the failed policies of this administration that have run our economy literally into a ditch. but that's not working. i promise you, the american people see through all of this. and i think that's why donald trump is going to be the next president of the unite

three years ago. >> when has me now accepted that birtherism is nonsense? >> look -- >> when did he do that? >> chris, hillary clinton's campaign -- >> he did not do that yet. i am waiting for him to do it. i want to know whether you believe that your candidate for president believes he would secede a legitimate president or not? >> he believes -- >> does he believe that he would secede a legitimate president? >> donald trump believes now that he was born in the united states. >> that was last thursday. joining me right now is nbc's hallie jackson who is covering trump's rally tonight. and steve cortez, a surrogate for the trump campaign and a member of trump's national hispanic advisory council. it's great. hallie jackson, thank you, sir -- thank you, madame. let me ask you this. this trump thing, was it the pressure of rudy and kellyanne conway and mike pence and others who have come forward and say, of course president obama was born in this country, and not only that, our president for candidate, donald trump, also believes it. or was it the pressure of

. >> you a birther? >> let me say this. i was a really good student at the best school. i'm a smart guy. they make these birthers into the worst tickets. why doesn't she show his birth certificate? >> i thought he was probably born in this country and now i have a much bigger doubt than before. >> he doesn't have a birth certificate or hasn't shown it. it's a certificate of live birth. a birth certificate is not even close. a certificate of live birth is not even signed by anybody. >> those were in the spring months of 2011. president obama took the step for a president of the united states and released that long form birth certificate that donald trump was talking about. if there had been any questions from anybody about where the president was born, they were definitively times 100 answered by the release of this certificate. if you look at the polls, it did move the numbers. the number of people saying in the wake that was release that president obama was not born in this country, that number dropped.

do you think he should have promoted this birther issue for all these years? was he wrong to do this? >> our campaign just really isn't focused on the past, martha, and it really -- >> governor pence, you said yourself hillary clinton is at fault. that's going forward, that's not just the past. he said friday that hillary clinton and her campaign were at fault for this birther movement as well. and you just said it yourself, can't find any. and fact-checkers have checked into that. that hillary clinton started the birther movement. >> i would refer you to news reports and reports of people in your industry, martha. >> reports within my industry, they say there's no proof they can find that hillary clinton had anything to do with it. >> i understand your perspective on it. i understand the desire of many the subject from hillary clinton's disastrous record and her dishonesty, but we're just not going to play that game. we'll continue to focus right where the american people are focused and that's not on the debates of the past. it's on their future. you know, y

statement on the birther issue.rodding him again on the birther issue. watch this. >> just yesterday trump again refused to say with his own words that the president was born in the united states. donald's advises had the temerity to say he is doing the country a service by pushing these lies. no. he isn't. he is feeding into the worst impulses, bigotry and bias that lurk in our country, barack obama was born in america complain and simple, donald trump owes him and the american people an apology. tammy bruce is with us, that is donald trump's motorcade at the podium, looks to me like hillary clinton grabbed the birther issue. >> he might in a big way, smartphone to mention it in passing, those words you are the comments because the campaign came out with a statement that the president was born here. she clearly is afraid to have a conversation about the economy, this is something no one cares about and mister trump should understand that. a brief reference moving into what people care about which is the economy and

he said hillary clinton started birtherism. not true. he said, he ended birtherism. not true. he said, barack obama was born in the u.s. that is true. so one-third of what he said does fact check, but it's important to note that two of the other things that he said in that sentence are patently false. >> brianna, hold on a minute. sara, back to you, because people dip in and out of cable news all the time and this is a big, important story. it started in 2011. it was how donald trump launched his political identity in the dark corners of the interwebs, he found somebody who was questioning whether barack obama was actually born in the united states, and he ran with it big time. big league. he ran with it. he promulgated it every where he could went on tv over and over radio show, said it in tweets, said it everywhere. that's usually the kind of thing when you're wrong you have to deal with it and you have to be open and honest about it and we got 27 seconds of copy and 33 seconds with pauses. then i want you to repeat to our audience what happened afterwards. >> reporter: well

. >> birtherism 2.0. donald trump tries to trade one false conspiracy theory -- >> his campaign was founded on this outrageous lie. >> for another outrageous conspiracy theory. >> hillary clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. i finished it. >> we'll look at the birth of the birther movement. >> people have birth certificates. he doesn't have a birth certificate. >> and who advised trump on his birther strategy. >> he is a fraud and a phony. >> when all in starts right now. >> good evening. i'm chris hayes. after five years pushing a false and racist conspiracy theory to declare him ineligible donald trump once again used that same racist theory to boost both his political fortunes. there has been mounting pressure to explain if and when he started believing that made his political name. when trump continue today push even after president obama released his long-form birth certificate. this morning trump tweeted he was going to one of his hotels for quote a major statement. the

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he was the leader of the birther movement. he had not taken questions so far on this about his new position. his aides have been pushing him to do this and he's been reluctant. they've taken different positions from him for weeks now. >> you watched what we just watched. was it effective, sincere, end it? >> he said three things. first two were false. hillary clinton started it. and he ended it. and one thing that's true, president obama was born in the united states. i think he's gotten away with telling false and saying falsehoods about things far more serious than the impacts of lives of people. this has emotional and symbolic resonance for millions of americans. those who cared about this before will still care about it. it's a stark reality of politics. we've seen how much this week things have changed already. i suspect he'll have to answer questions about it but i suspect this will not dominate the conversation and the campaign's goal of taking off the table but it's too serious an issue to erase the past for tens of mi

he's been perpetuating birtherism for years. multiple reporters have asked him about it over 15 months. i asked him about it last july. he was asked about it as recently as a couple of days ago by robert costa and this morning on fox business he kept reiterating the same thing. that he didn't know. this morning he told fox business that he wanted to hold on to the suspense for the event today. this was clearly a calculated move by the republican nominee to draw attention which was supposed to be what the campaign told reporters. it was a photo op for the new hotel and started by donald trump cloaking himself on the service of others, surrounding himself with veterans. one was thomas mcinerne. >> i was going to say that. >> he wroten a affidavit questioning president obama's eligibility to serve in the white house because there were questions surrounding where he was born. the irony of that is not lost on folks. >> our own benji sterling got off the phone with mcinerney. i want to go to kristen welker. we have a fairly new respon

>> i was astonished by the whole birther thing. it had things figured out, i'm like -- >> why would they be doing this? >> yes. we saw a kinder gentler version, the polls are tightening and then birther. >> call attention to one of the least favorite aspects. >> if he hadn't changed his position people were going to continue to ask him. his aides put out that he had changed it. >> why the drama? >> because he wanted to control the way it happened. >> do you think this puts appear idea at the end of the birther thing or no? >> i think it does for some people and for the media. think about the beginning of if weak. i thought we were going to be covering baskets of deplorables and hillary clinton's health. those things have been washed away by medical records and what's happened with donald trump and the birther thing. by monday we're not talking about it. >> that's one thing that's been amazing about this campaign. we have epic sort of news events happen and two days later, something completely different. >> we talk about in many ins

by stopping the birther -- by stopping the birther movement by having the president release his birthpronouncing on friday that the president indeed was born in the united states. like he is the great ash arbite it. >> i have to get this in, congresswoman. >> i tell you, don -- >> let's talk about bridgegate, chris christie has denied any involvement in the closure of the bridge. when they were opponents, trump said christie absolutely knew about it. here it is. >> so chris, who's a friend of mine, he hit me hard. and i said i have to hit him at least once, i won't do this a lot, but look, here's the story. the george washington bridge. he knew about it. >> first to governor grandholm. how do you think this would be treated if it was a hillary clinton surrogate, one of her top surrogates saying this? >> the house would be burning down on the republican side of the aisle. and honestly, this is a legitimate issue. you saw when this bridge gate scandal broke, chris christie doing the multihour press conference, where he insisted that he knew nothing about this, with that same certainty t

donald trump flip-flopping on birther. >> uh-huh. when he reached his new conclusion, we will have to find out. and we'll continue to talk about it. john king, thank you. everybody, thank you so much. special coverage continues right now with ashleigh banfield. >>> hello, everyone. i'm ashleigh banfield. welcome to "legal view." 53 days before the election. 2,796 days after president obama first took his oath of office. and that's when donald trump decided to add nate mr. obama is, in fact, an american citizen. just minutes ago. in what he billed as a "major announcement" the gop presidential nominee sought to put to arrest controversy that he personally energetically fueled with gasoline for five full years, and you heard it all happen here. check out the power and the length of this statement. >> hillary clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy.

thing. >> why do you want to get wabac to the birther thing so bad? >> pushed a racist attack on the first black president and refuses to renounce it and apologize. he has persuaded half of his party to believe this. it's flat earth garbage. >> this is the same deplorable comments. >> here is the tragedy of all of this. it could be ended in four second. >> it was ended last night. and, by the way, calling our campaign racist is the same thing that hillary did when she called us deplorable. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> alyison, to you. >>> what does the democratic leadership think about all of this, all of these issues today? house minority leader nancy pelosi will share her take on everything that is in the news. all the hot button election issues. that's next. >>> so, while you were sleeping donald trump's campaign releasing a statement trying to put the birther controversy to rest. it reads, "having successfully obtained president obama's birth certificate when others could not, mr. trump believes that president obama was born in the uni

the birther issue is what it is.what's next for hillary clinton in order to continue what she has seen over the last month, she's ahead in the battleground states. what is key for her to maintain that? >> well, i really don't know what happens next. i've been saying for months that as soon as donald trump stops making the ridiculously outrageous statements and he will rise in the polls and that's what we have seen in the past three weeks, kindler and donald trump is rising even in battleground states. how hillary clinton responds to that and how donald trump responds in birther -- jenna: what do you think is next, what do you think is issue at this point? >> the issues remain to be known and to be seen. one thing is for sure, both of the candidates are on tightly controlled leashes by the staff. we are sitting here towards the end of september and both candidates are no longer show showing what they are used to. they acted like they're above the law, both of them for many months and they are now doing whatever it tak

whole birther thing is over. isil, north korea, poverty, climate change -- none of those things weighed on my mind like the validity of my birth certificate. >> as for trump, he stayed away from the media since his declaration. sticking instead to big, energetic rallies. so, when we traveled to indianapolis saturday to interview vice candidate mike pence, it was the first opportunity to put all the unanswered birther questions directly to the republican ticket. on friday, for the very first time, mr. trump said that barack obama was born in the u.s. why did it take him so long? >> well, let me say that the momentum in this campaign is really overwhelming and i think it's because donald trump has been focusing on issues that the about. he brought that issue to an end this week. other than many in the national media, as i campaign across this country with donald trump and for donald trump, the american people aren't focused on the debates of the past, they're focused on their future, he's offering real solutions an

so i believe that this birther issue is something that is a distraction.the campaign came out tonight saying mr. trump p believes that president obama was born in the united states of america. i believe that's case closed and we should move forward on issues that i believe more americans are more concerned about around the kitchen tables. >> you don't want to hear it come out of his mouth instead of a campaign spokesperson? >> i think when the campaign puts something out we should take it at face value that's what the campaign and mr. trump says. >> becari, you want to respond to that? >> i think the statement was a lie. i think the statement was disingenuous at best. donald trump disavowing this birther movement is a lot like barak obama disavowing hope and change. it is the core of who they are, it is how they rose to their ascension to this lengs of politics. donald trump, this birther movement is rooted in so much hate, so much bigotry, so much racism. the fact that he is a coward and cannot stand in front of a camera even today when asked, is the pres

and that's what he did with the birther movement.at he's done throughout his presidential campaign. if you remember, the first thing he announced when he was president was to talk about building a wall, stopping mexicans from coming in because they were rapists and criminals and talked about stopping muslims, and then when david duke, announced his support and evowed racist, trump refused reject that support, so race has always been something that has been underlying trump's campaign and the fact that he denies it doesn't really make a difference. >> michael, after he did d dis-avoy, people believe he was forced to in the same sort of sentiment with the birther movement, i disavoy, almost sounding like, there, you're happy, i did it. part of that is the way he goes about doing it once he has in some way, you know, admitted that there was an issue somewhere, but not really apologizing. >> this is what trump does, and let's be clear, trump was dead wrong on this birtherism issue. president obama was born in the united states, his birth

but not in this birther thing.hat's another outright lie from donald trump. >> this story has been around for about 24 hours since "the washington post" published an interview in which he refused to answer a question on this. i think he'll have to answer the question at some point, why did he change his mind? but i don't think we'll be talking about this on monday in a dominant way. >> and even before donald trump pulled his media stunt today, hillary clinton was on offense, prebutting his birther announcement during a speech he gave to the black woman's agenda symposium in washington, d.c.. >> now, donald's advisers have the temerity to say that he's doing the country a service by pushing these lies. no. he isn't. barack obama was born in america, plain and simple, and donald trump owes him and the american people an apology. think of how dangerous that is. imagine a person in the oval office who traffics in conspiracy theories and refuses to let them go, no matter what the facts are. imagine someone who distorts

i don't think anything has been as outrageous as the birther movement.o one has come as close to popularizing it. it has inflamed our dialogue and being disrespectful to the indication why he changed today, and by blaming hillary clinton and taking credit for forcing the president to release his longform birth certificate, even the way he did it was outrageous. i think it's a testament to his lack of care about how history will view him, win or lose. with all of that. i will say that one issue with donald trump is obviously the truth. he has lied about a lot of things. it is the case that low level people in clinton's staff in 2008 spread the rumor that obama might be a muslim. different rumor, and different in an important way, because a muslim can be the president of the united states, someone born in kenya cannot be. and the whole point of this was to say that this man, a black man with his unusual name, was able to hold office. hillary clinton fired the people who started that rumor. this has been part of the news cycle for 24 hours ever since donald

tal, i want to start with the birther issue.inch myself that we are at this stage. he was born in hawaii i think in 1961. look, donald trump, his team at least, is saying we agree he was born in the united states. donald trump has not said this. in admitting the president is born in the united states, the team almost taking a swipe and taking credit for putting it all to rest, tal. it is really unusual. >> it is a remarkable thing we're seeing on a number of levels. first of all, the idea that a candidate refuses to say something himself. i think refuses is fair. he has been given numerous opportunities and asked directly multiple times. will you say in your own words that barack obama was born in the united states as he has. he has evaded that every single time. you have his campaign, all of his surrogates have said it, kellyanne conway said this last week. the candidate himself refuses to say it. which is remarkable. for them to put out the statement that claims credit like they have done a service by having the birth certific

it was the question about the "birther" issue.illary clinton was the source for this originally. donald trump in all likelihood going to make that case as well. and there is debate as to where that started, and what was the origination point for the whole "birther" argument from 2008. martha:ym yeah. clinton basically said she never mentioned it on the campaign trail. the arguments overr campaign pue controversy forth or whether it came from supporters who were outside of the campaign is part of the debate that is on going. we will likely hear donald trump say that he was the person who put it to rest because he forced president obama to come forward with his birth certificate, that he brought closure to the event. so that is kind of the line we've been hearing over the past 24 hours or so on this. bill: that she started it but he finished it. martha: but he finished it. he brought it into the daylight. and that the president, you know, i mean, he is very likely going to say something along the lines of that, they brought it up.

. >> interview took place before the press conference about birtherism.et us know what you think, when we come back, did trump stage the media to talk about birtherism? and later, why cbs went way over the line in editing bill clinton. remember here at ally, nothing stops us from doing right by our customers. who's with me? i'm in. i'm in. i'm in. i'm in. ♪ ♪ one, two, - wait, wait. wait - where's tina? doing the hand thing? yep! we are all in for our customers. ally. do it right. we arno... in forthey feel good? you wouldn't put up with part of a pair of glasses. so when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with part of a day? these are not useful. live whole. not part. aleve. yeah. well, we gotta hand it thto fedex. glasses. they've helped make our e-commerce so easy, and now we're getting all kinds of new customers. i know. can you believe we're getting orders from canada, ireland... this one's going to new zealand. new zealand? psst. ah, false alarm. hey! you guys are gonna scare away the deer! idiots... providing global access for small business. f

starting in 2011, trump led the birther charge. let's watch trump's long history of questioning barack obama's legitimacy to be an american president. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate and you know what i wish he would, because i think it's a terrible pale that's hanging over him. >> nobody ever comes forward. nobody knows who he is until later in his life. it's very strange. >> he may have one but there's something on that birth certificate, maybe religion, maybe it says he's a muslim. i don't know. >> i have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding. >> you have people now down there searching in hawaii? >> absolutely. and they cannot believe what they're finding. >> i still would like to see his college records. i would like to see a couple things. trump comes along and said birth certificate. he gave a birth certificate. whether or not that was a real certificate because a lot of people question it, i certainly question it. >> a few years ago, you led the birther movement

at least her campaign did, calling donald trump the birther in chief.hen she hit it again here today before this umbrella organization of african-american groups from around the country. very well-known groups. it's because the campaign sees this as an issue that they can use to get out the vote. they can look at african-american voters and say to them donald trump is disrespecting the first african-american president and let's listen just to a little bit of what she had to say before this group here in washington today. >> for five years, he has led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president. his campaign was founded on this outrageous lie. there is no erasing it in history. just yesterday, trump again refused to say with his own words that the president was born in the united states. now, donald's advisers had the temerity to say he's doing the country a service by pushing these lies. no, he isn't. he is feeding into the worst impulses, the bigotry and bias, that lurks in our country. >> reporter: she went on to say also that donal

they have some small part in that but not in this birther thing. mark: this has been part of the news cycle for 24 hours ever since donald trump refused to answer a question about it. i think at some point he will have to say why he changed his mind today, but it won't be today. john: meanwhile, hillary clinton was on offense. during a speech she gave to the black woman's agenda. ms. clinton: donald's had the temerity to say he is doing the country a service by pushing these lies. no, he isn't. barack obama was born in america, plain and simple, and donald trump owes him and the american people an apology. think of how dangerous it is. and imagine a person in the oval office who traffics in conspiracy theories and refuses to let them go no matter what the facts are. imagine someone who distorts the truth to fit his very narrow view of the world. imagine a president who doesn't -- sees someone who does not look like him and doesn't agree with him, and thinks, that person must not be a real american. donald trump is unfit to be president of the unite

>> this is as slate said this week, birtherism 2.0.ack obama does not belong here, because he was not born here, and can't be president. with a new conspiracy theory, which is that it's all clinton's fault and trump cleaned up the mess. that's not true don. and i think the press has got to continue to hold trump and his aids accountable for this. >> it's weird, because people, if you listen to people's reaction, you see it. they believe that that's true. it's not true. >> it's sticky, so to speak. among trump supporters, among many republicans and some independents in the u.s. polling shows this is a widely held belief. facts spoken by cnn are not going to sway that belief. trump is on the record saying he knows the president was born here, he knows the truth. that's why i'm really curious to see, interviewers really press him on this. >> maybe lester holt will seven days from today. if holt doesn't bring it up, i'm sure hillary clinton will on stage. >> he is touting town halls in other places, not on cnn, not with anyone of color. wh

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. >> senator, do you think that donald trump is a racist? >> chri trump so if i don't know somebody i'm just not going to make that claim, but let me -- this is really important. for five years from 2011 to 2016, last friday, donald trump has perpetrated a bigoted lie that president obama is not a united states citizen. this is so painful because, as you know, when african-americans came here in 1619 to jamestown all the way up through the end of the civil war they could not be citizens. born here or born elsewhere, whether they were free or slave they were not allowed to be u.s. citizens. so for five years when donald trump has pushed this dig bigoted lie that the african-american president of the united states is not a u.s. citizen so many people connect that to the most painful time in american history where having african-american dissent barred you from citizenship in this i hope someone asks donald

do it with birtherism. now a whole 24 hours later, and at the moment, this is what's coming out of washington, d.c. the congressional black caucus saying this is racist. this is more than about african-americans. we need an apology. we need to know who, when, what, where, all of those questions answered, not just the seven seconds. >> and doing that because it's a smart political thing to do. to keep this side of donald trump alive and well. the side that most moderate republicans and independents do believe the president was born in the united states. they really resented this birther movement to begin with and being labeled as potentially, him beingart of it. makes a lot of sense. interesting or troubling about how donald trump handled is he didn't allow the follow-up questions which will are going to happen no matter what. when did you decide to believe this? he's going to again make this another day. whenever he has his next press availability or interview, this is going to come up, or maybe it will wai

the whole birther movement was racist." but just last night, the "washington post" publishing a new interview. trump still refusing to say whether he believes the president was born in the u.s. then, within hours, an e-mail bombshell from the campaign. "mr. trump believes president obama was born in the united states." but nothing from trump himself. this morning, a tweet. "i am going to the brand new trump international hotel d.c. for a major statement." even on an issue so deeply personal to the president, trump building up the drama for his next tv stunt. >> you watch my statement. i have to, we have to keep the suspense going, okay? >> reporter: finally, with the press corps assembled, trump bragged about his hotel, surrounded by a collection of decorated veterans backing him. then he addressed the elephant in the room. >> president barack obama was born in the united states. period. now we all want to get back to making america strong and great again. thank you. thank you very much. >> reporter: since donald trump didn

the birther controversy. i finished it. >> reporter: clinton and her campaign did no such thing. trump today refusing to take any questions from reporters. >> mr. trump, why did it take so long? >> reporter: he did not explain what finally convinced him. and he did not apologize to the president. for years, the birther conspiracy was trump's signature issue. >> if he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility, then he has pulled one of the great cons in the history of politics. >> reporter: it propelled him to the forefront of american politics. >> i want him to show his birth certificate. >> reporter: in 2011, when the white house did release the birth certificate showing the president was born in hawaii, trump took a victory lap. trump tweeted, "an extremely credible source has called my office and told me that barack obama's birth certificate is a fraud." it was one of 67 trump tweets on the birther issue. again, in 2014, trump still refusing to accept the conspiracy theory had been thoroughl