The Associated Press (which has much to make up for after it's egregious Clinton Foundation "reporting"):
WASHINGTON (AP) - Even as Donald Trump sought to close the door on the false conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States, he peddled another lie by claiming that his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, was behind it.Fox "News" Shep Smith (!), via Media Matters:
Today Donald Trump punked the media and we learned it's not as fun when you're the victim. Here's what happened. Donald Trump's campaign announced that he would be holding a news conference, his first news conference on any matter in two months. this one on his past statements about the president not being born in America, statements that were never true.
He made them for years, but instead of the promised news conference, he did an eight minute live commercial on all channels for his new hotel in Washington, then brought out American heroes to extol his greatness, then said the first black President of the United States really is an America citizen, gave no explanation for his previous statements to the contrary, or the reason for the change in position, then said Hillary Clinton started it, which she did not.
Again, he blamed Hillary Clinton for creating the birther conspiracy theory. She did not. The comments came from that new hotel of his, just blocks away from the White House. Not only did Trump admit that President Obama was born in the U.S. -- thanks for that -- he also took credit for resolving the issue that never was. Apparently forcing President Obama to release his birth certificate back in 2011, stating that he was obviously born in Hawaii.Maggie Haberman and Alan Rappeport, New York Times:
Donald J. Trump publicly retreated from his “birther” campaign on Friday, tersely acknowledging that President Obama was born in the United States — and effectively conceding that the conspiracy theory he had promoted for years was baseless.
Mr. Trump made no apology for and took no questions about what had amounted to a five-year-long smear of the nation’s first black president. Instead, he claimed, falsely, that questions about Mr. Obama’s citizenship were initially stirred by the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, in her unsuccessful primary contest against Mr. Obama in 2008.The Washington Post hit it especially hard (for them).
Jenna Johnson and Anne Gearan, Washington Post:
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Friday acknowledged for the first time that President Obama was born in the United States, ending his long history of stoking unfounded doubts about the nation’s first African American president but also seeking to falsely blame Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for starting the rumors.Karen Tumulty, Washington Post:
Never had the GOP nominee done all of this in such a fun-house-mirror fashion as on Friday, when he disavowed a crackpot con that he had once promoted. He even went so far as to claim credit for rectifying the situation.
“Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it,” Trump said, falsely, in an appearance at his newly opened luxury hotel...Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post:
Trump as recently as Thursday night had declined to put to rest his long history of promoting the false idea that the country’s first African American president was not born here. Based on implausible conspiracy theories, that idea was never more than a thinly veiled appeal to racism, intended to delegitimize Obama’s right to hold the highest office. And yet, reporters turned out in droves, live cameras at the ready.Will this newfound truth- telling be short- lived? Is it about 3 months too late? Will the media continue to get "punk'd" by Rump? We'll have ample opportunity to see over the coming 50- some days and beyond. Any effort at this point to stop the insane normalizing of this lying buffoon is to be welcomed.
