Trump Refuses to Back Down Over Obama's 'Very Strange' Birth
Donald Trump is not backing down from his
demand that President Barack Obama produce
his birth certificate and stepped up his
criticism by questioning why he has not
released other personal records, including
college transcripts and legislative papers.
The billionaire real estate tycoon and star
of “The Apprentice” created a stir on
Wednesday when he said on “The View” that
Obama must release his birth certificate.
Now Trump has reiterated his call in an
exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, with
this simple message for Obama: Why don’t you
produce your birth certificate and put to
rest all speculation that you were born
outside the United States?
He says Obama’s birth certificate
controversy is a “strange situation” — there
are conflicting reports as to what Honolulu
hospital he was born at, and the governor of
Hawaii claims he somehow remembers Obama
being born 50 years ago.
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Trump, who says he will soon announce if he
will run for president in 2012, also says
Libya is a “total mess,” with Iran possibly
behind the rebels and waiting to take over
the country, and charges that the United
States is going to “hell in a hand basket.”
“It’s a very simple situation,” Trump says
in regard to the birth certificate issue.
“I’d just like to see his birth certificate.
“I’m hearing all sorts of stories that his
own family can’t agree which hospital he was
born in and lots of other things, and I’m
trying to find out where is the birth
certificate. I have a birth certificate.
Where is his birth certificate?
“If you’re born in this country, to the best
of my knowledge people have a birth
certificate.”
Obama asserts that he was born in Honolulu,
but former Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney
General Philip Berg has claimed that Obama’s
paternal grandmother says she was in the
delivery room when he was born in Kenya.
There are even differing reports about which
Honolulu hospital he may have been born at.
During his 2008 presidential campaign
numerous reports indicated Obama was born at
the Queen's Medical Center. Later, Obama's
half sister said he was born at the
Katiolani Medical Center.
After questions were raised about his birth,
Obama's campaign released a Certification of
Live Birth. The form is a summary document
and does not include the newborn's location
of birth. The long-form Birth Certificate
includes such data, but Obama has declined
to release it.
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie first ordered
the state attorney general and health
department director to release more
information about Obama’s birth there, then
abandoned that pursuit.
“It is an amazing situation,” Trump says of
the governor’s actions.
“And later the governor said, but I remember
when he was born. I said, what? You actually
remember when somebody was born? It sounded
very unusual that a Democratic governor
would remember when somebody was born 50
years ago.
“I assume that Obama was born in the United
States. I assume he was probably born in
Hawaii. But I have to get rid of the word
‘assume.’ If somebody wants to run for
president you have to be born in this
country.
And when the family argues about which
hospital it was because they’re not sure, as
has been reported, and you don’t have a
birth certificate, it’s sort of a strange
situation.”
Trump adds: “I don’t want there to be a
question. I think it would be wonderful news
for everybody, including me, if the birth
certificate is found. But at this moment
there is no birth certificate.
“Some people say it exists, and if it
exists, even worse, why isn’t he showing it?
So I would like to see a birth certificate,
and when the governor and everybody else say
they think it exists, why don’t they produce
it?”
Asked if Obama has fulfilled his campaign
pledge to have the most transparent
administration, Trump responds: “Certainly
he hasn’t in terms of his birth, and I guess
a lot of college records and other records
haven’t been produced, and that’s a little
unusual. Why wouldn’t you produce your
records?
“There are client lists that haven’t been
produced and lobbying lists that haven’t
been produced, so there are a lot of things
that haven’t been produced for somebody who
is supposed to be so transparent.
“There’s certainly not a lot of
transparency.”
Asked about the Obama administration’s
handling of the rebellion in Libya, Trump
tells Newsmax: “For one thing, if you’re
going to save lives on a humanitarian basis
you should have started sooner, because many
of those lives are gone.
“For another thing, you really have to find
out who you’re fighting for. Who are the
rebels? You have some people who say that
Iran is controlling the rebels, that Iran is
the happiest of all nations because they
think as soon as we leave they’re going to
go in with the rebels and take over Libya.
“I hear more and more reports that the
rebels aren’t the sweetest people on earth
either. It looks to me like it’s a total
mess.”
Polls show Trump among the leaders in the
GOP field for the 2012 presidential
nomination. Asked if he has decided whether
or not to run, Trump says: “I will be
announcing one way or another somewhere
prior to June.
“I hate what’s happening to this country.
It’s never been at a point like this, ever.
We’re not respected. We’re scoffed at. We’re
laughed at by other places. People from
China and other places cannot believe
they’re getting away with what they’re
getting away with. We’re rebuilding China.
We’re rebuilding other countries, and our
country is going to hell in a hand basket.
“One thing I can say, if I ran and if I won,
that would stop, and everybody knows it. I
think that’s why I do well in the polls.”
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