ABC News(NEW YORK) — Just hours after the Washington Post published an interview with Donald Trump in which he refused to acknowledge that President Barack Obama was born in the United States, the Trump campaign released a statement saying that the Republican presidential candidate “believes” Obama was born in the U.S.
“Having successfully obtained President Obama’s birth certificate when others could not, Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States,” read the statement.
In the Washington Post interview, published on its website at 7:34 p.m., refused to say whether he believed that Obama was born in the U.S.
“I’ll answer that question at the right time,” Trump said. “I just don’t want to answer it yet.”
Despite the Republican presidential candidate’s reluctance to acknowledge that Obama was born in the U.S. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway has said in recent interviews that Trump does indeed believe the president is born in the U.S.
When asked if Conway’s assertion was accurate, Trump told the newspaper, “It’s okay. She’s allowed to speak what she thinks. I want to focus on jobs. I want to focus on other things.”
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump surrogate, also recently said Trump believes Obama is born in the U.S.
The Republican presidential candidate continued, “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.”
Trump was asked if his courtship of African-Americans could be stymied by the birther issue and “hang over his candidacy.” His response? “I think it hangs over the reporters.”
The real estate developer-turned-presidential candidate was at the heart of the “birther” movement, casting doubt on whether Obama was born in the U.S.
The questions fueled conspiracy theories that the president was born in Kenya instead of Hawaii.
In an unusual move, the president held a press conference in 2011 releasing his birth certificate.
But that still did not satisfy Trump and other doubters. The last time he publicly discussed the theory, in August 2013, Trump told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl that he has “ no idea” if Obama was born in the US.
Since then, he has largely dodged the question.
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