Donald Trump explains why he still won't admit President Obama was born in the U.S.

(Image credit: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

published 16 September 2016

On Thursday evening, Donald Trump invited a reporter from The Washington Post on to his plane, and the reporter asked if Trump — a leading proponent of the falsehood that President Obama was born outside the U.S., and is thus ineligible to be president — is now ready to acknowledge that Obama was born in Hawaii. He wasn't. "I'll answer that question at the right time," Trump said. "I just don't want to answer it yet."

His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, recently tried to put the "birther" issue behind the campaign, telling CNN earlier this week that Trump believes Obama was born in the U.S. When reminded of that, Trump responded: "It's okay. She's allowed to speak what she thinks. I want to focus on jobs. I want to focus on other things." Thursday night, Trump's campaign released a statement saying "Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States," blaming Hillary Clinton's campaign for first raising the issue (PolitiFact rates that claim False), and taking credit for bringing "this ugly incident to its conclusion by successfully compelling President Obama to release his birth certificate. Mr. Trump did a great service to the President and the country."

So why won't Trump himself renounce his aggressive promotion of this conspiracy theory himself and just admit Obama is American-born? "I don't talk about it anymore," Trump said. "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." When The Post said that just saying the magic words that Obama was born in Hawaii might help his sizable problem with black voters, Trump reportedly glared at the reporter and said, "I think it hangs over the reporters."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.