Trump accepts Obama was U.S.-born—but not without a new accusation

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On Sept. 16, Donald Trump unveiled a new hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, as well as a major reversal of opinion when he conceded that President Barack Obama was born in the United States. However, with the supposed end of Trump’s involvement with the birther movement, came the birth of a new controversy.

Trump has been a major figurehead of the “birther” conspiracy theory about Obama’s citizenship since 2011. His accusations resulted in the president releasing his birth certificate to the public in April 2011. However, Trump has refused to back down from his claims until now.

The GOP presidential nominee has attempted to improve his standing among moderate Republicans and minority voters in recent weeks, and is seeking to cut ties with birtherism by the time of his Sept. 26 debate with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Birtherism’s role in the race will likely not die down anytime soon. In the process of admitting he was wrong about President Obama’s origins, Trump also endeavored to claim Clinton was the actual originator of the birther conspiracy.

“Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it, I finished it,” Trump said on Friday. “You know what I mean.”

Clinton condemned the allegations and her campaign later tweeted “President Obama’s successor cannot and will not be the man who led the racist birther movement. Period.”

Trump’s latest accusations came only a couple weeks before his first debate with Clinton as official candidates for the general election on Sept. 26. Only time will tell whether the birther controversy will truly be tabled, or become the latest catalyst for an already chaotic race.

Information from this article was taken from cnn.com.

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