Donald Trump was in large part responsible for spreading the conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was born abroad (spoiler alert: Obama was born in Hawaii). After years of promoting the theory, Trump blurted Friday that he believes Obama was in fact born in the United States — and if Trump is true to his word, that admission will cost him $5 million:
In 2012, Trump offered to donate $5 million if Obama would produce records related to his citizenship. Long after others had stopped pressing the case, Trump continued.
"The president should come clean," Trump said on Irish television in 2014, a clip unearthed by BuzzFeed late Thursday, refusing to accept that Obama's Hawaii birth certificate was genuine proof. "A lot of people feel it wasn't a proper certificate." [The Los Angeles Times]
The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold, who has dogged the Trump campaign over alleged donations of millions to charity that apparently were never actually given, decided to find out if Trump would keep his promise:
There has been no response yet.