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Wolf
Trump Finally Admits Obama Was Born in U.S.; Clinton States Trump Tried to Delegitimize Obama; Trump Kept Up Birther Issue After 2011. Aired 1-1:30p ET
Aired September 16, 2016 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: -- Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Aleppo, Syria. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.
We begin with breaking news. Born in the USA. Donald Trump finally admits that President Obama was born in the United States. Trump used the so-called birther issue to launch his political career. For days now, his campaign has conceded that the president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. And just a short time ago, Trump said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now, we all want to get back to making America strong and great again. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Hillary Clinton, today, slammed Trump for leading what's called the birther movement. She accused him of trying to delegitimize the country's first African-American president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is feeding into the worst impulses, the bigotry and bias that lurks in our country. Barack Obama was born in America, plain and simple, and Donald Trump owes him and the American people an apology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And just moments ago, she tweeted what Trump just did is a disgrace. President Obama, meanwhile, he also weighed in this morning. He says it's time to focus in on more important issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was pretty confident about where I was born. I think most people were as well. And my hope would be that the presidential election reflects more serious issues than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Trump's admission about President Obama's birthplace came at the very end of an event honoring veterans and unveiling his new hotel right here in Washington, D.C.
CNN Correspondent Sunlen Surfaty is joining us now from outside Trump's second stop, the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington. Sunlen, with so many Republicans trying to put this issue to rest, why did Trump decide to do it in such an abrupt manner?
SUNLEN SURFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was really abrupt, Wolf, and really coming at an odd place at the tail end of his event today. But certainly pressure had been mounting for him to do so. You had people like Ben Carson, one of his top surrogates, say recently that he believes that Donald Trump should apologize for his role in the birther movement and said that he thinks it's hurting him with African-Americans.
And then, you had his top aides recently on his campaign saying recently, yes, Donald Trump believes President Obama was born here in the U.S. But there was such a big gap between those statements from his aides recently and what Donald Trump was actually saying myself.
So, a lot of pressure for her -- for him to really come out today and say those exact words. Today was, in essence, Donald Trump trying to check that box and likely check that box before they came to the debate with Hillary Clinton, now just over a week away.
Certainly, the Trump campaign not wanting this to be -- turn into such a central idea coming out of that campaign -- out of that debate. But certainly, it was interesting today to see Donald Trump almost amplify this even more. Even though he said, yes, President Obama is born here in the U.S., he really shifted blame on Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign, saying that they were the role of the birther movement. That they really started this birther movement. Although, we should definitely note that there are -- there is no evidence that supports that claim -- Wolf.
BLITZER: After so many years of refusing to utter the words, he did say President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period.
Sunlen, thank you very much.
What Donald Trump admitted today is the exact opposite of anything he's said in the past. Here are a just few of the times Donald Trump has publicly questioned President Obama's place of birth over the last five years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Why doesn't he show his birth certificate? And you know what? I wish he would because I think it's a terrible pale that's hanging over him.
I thought he was probably born in this country, and now I have a much bigger doubt than I did before.
Barack Obama should end this, and he should provide the public birth certificate.
If Barack Obama opens up and gives his college records and applications, and if he gives his passport applications and records, I will give to a charity of his choice a check immediately for 5 million.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is a citizen. He produced that long form birth certificate.
TRUMP: Well, a lot of people don't agree with you and a lot of people feel it wasn't a proper certificate.
Perhaps he was born in this country and that has a very big chance, or, you know, who knows?
He gave a birth certificate. Whether or not that was a real certificate, because a lot of people question it. I certainly question it. Now, all we have to do is find out whether or not it was real.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[13:05:03] BLITZER: All right, let's talk a little more about this. I want to bring in CNN's Tom Foreman. Tom, you've been fact checking both Donald Trump and his campaign statements on this. What have you found?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Think about this half-minute statement that he said this morning and the basic claim to it that the birther issue was first raised by Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign. That's the first part of his statement there.
Well, here's the problem with that. While there were people who supported Hillary Clinton back in 2008 who started nibbling at this issue, it was quickly picked up by Republicans. And there is no evidence Hillary Clinton or her team ever pushed the birther story. There is simply none out there to back this as much as people may wish it would be.
Here's the second part of his claim. In 2011, Mr. Trump was finally able to bring his ugly incident to its conclusion by successfully compelling President Obama to release his birth certificate. That's when his campaign said Thursday, and he echoed it in that very short statement today, saying he put an end to it.
Here's the problem. That's 2011. In 2008, President Obama released his certification of live birth. And then, in 2011, President Obama released his long form birth certificate. And yet, it wasn't over specifically because Mr. Trump wouldn't let it be.
You played all the clips earlier. Wolf, this is what he said to you earlier this year in January. Who knows about Obama? Who knows? Who knows? Who cares right now? I have my own theory on Obama. Someday, I'll write a book. I will write another book and it will do very successfully.
The bottom line is he said two things this morning, trying to clear up this controversy, both of which were false -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And that -- let me -- let me play that clip of what he said to me in January of this year, 2016. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
You know, your critics are saying that you're doing a Ted Cruz what you tried to do to President Obama --
TRUMP: Oh, Obama, --
BLITZER: -- where he was born on --
TRUMP: -- who knows about Obama. Obama.
BLITZER: -- his birth certificate.
TRUMP: Who knows about Obama? Obama.
BLITZER: His mother was a U.S. citizen born in Kansas.
TRUMP: Who knows.
BLITZER: So, was --
TRUMP: You know, can I -- can I tell what?
BLITZER: -- he a naturally born U.S. citizen?
TRUMP: Who knows? Who knows. Let's -- who cares right now? We're talking about something else. OK? I mean, I have my own theory on Obama. Someday I'll give -- I'll write a book. I'll do another book. It will do very successfully.
(END VIDEO)
BLITZER: This suggests that he did not drop the issue in 2011, Tom, as his campaign claims.
FOREMAN: No, absolutely did not. He kept it alive. Year after year, he kept bringing it up, often with sort of a nod and a wink, saying, well, gee, I don't know. But it kept that issue out there and kept driving folks who wanted to believe that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, when Barack Obama was born in the United States. End of story.
BLITZER: Tom Foreman, thank you very much.
Let's discuss Donald Trump's birther reversal with our panel. Joining us, our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger, our Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash and our Senior Washington Correspondent Jeff Zeleny.
So, Dana, what does Hillary Clinton have to gain by this whole issue coming to the floor right now? DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What does she have to
gain? I mean, she has to gain a lot which is why she seized on it within, I think, five minutes of this "Washington Post" story, where Donald Trump was interviewed.
And they posted it yesterday. And he wouldn't say what he said today, which was -- is that Barack Obama was born in the U.S. That came out and they amended her speech last night very quickly because she -- and they believe in Brooklyn, that this is case in point of the argument that they've been trying to make which is, do you really want this guy in your living room and representing the United States for the next four years, when he pushes and peddles conspiracy theories that are just patently and blatantly false?
What the Trump campaign, I know and just in talking to sources, what they were hoping to do by not only releasing the statement from Jason Miller last night, but convincing the principle, Donald Trump himself, to say something today was to put an end to the questions and be able to talk about issues that they think help with persuadable voters.
Good luck. It's just -- it's not happening now because he made these two sentences. One of which we know is not right about Hillary Clinton starting this. And didn't take any questions. The obvious questions, why did you change when you just, you know, even as early as February of last year, said you're not so sure. Why now? Will you apologize? Things that he is going to be asked, whether it's by an interviewer, at a press pool or on the debate stage. So, it's not over.
BLITZER: You know he's going to say, I've already said enough. There are much more important issues to discuss right now. We've got economic issues.
BASH: Right.
BLITZER: National security issues. I'm not going beyond what I've already said. Let's move on.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: But you cannot erase history with a sentence. It's just a lot of years here of pot stirring, of conspiracy theories. And I don't think any political candidate, particularly one running for the presidency, can say, never mind. I don't believe that anymore. If there was an opportunity for him to say, OK, it's over, it's when the president released his birth certificate in April of 2011. And he didn't do that.
[13:10:03] BASH: He refused.
BORGER: So, what was intervening here that suddenly made him decide? I would argue it was -- it was politics. And that he's behaving like a politician. And that his smart political advisors were saying to him, as Dana was saying, you've got to get this out of the way. We don't want it to come up at the debates.
Well, guess what? Now, I think, because of their candidate and the way he insisted on handling this, it's guaranteed to come up at the debate.
BLITZER: Hillary Clinton had some strong words for Donald Trump this morning. Let me play the clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: For five years, he has led the birther movement to de- legitimize our first black president. His campaign was founded on this outrageous lie. There is no erasing it in history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And now, you're going to get a lot of chorus saying he has acknowledged the president was born in the United States. Wouldn't it be appropriate to apologize to the president?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Sure, and if we know Donald Trump, you know, how he's conducted himself over all this time, he doesn't apologize. And the president is not asking for an apology. But this has really opened up something that most Democrats actually thought had gone away.
This is ending the week for Hillary Clinton which has been a tough week. Let's be honest here. In potentially a very good way, politically speaking here. Their whole argument has been trying to show that Donald Trump simply is unacceptable for the presidency. He doesn't have the judgment or the temperament, in her words.
And this episode today will not affect his supporters at all. It absolutely will not. But there was a sense among Democrats that there was growth for Donald Trump. That he actually has been staying on message more. I think this interrupts all that. The Super PAC that is supporting the Clinton campaign party USA that's already on the air and social media with the six figure buy, to African-American voters in particular.
There's been one worry in the Clinton world, it's not firing up the Obama coalition. Donald Trump did that today. He did that himself with all the words he's been saying for the last five years. He did it more than she could. But they're going to be fired up, guaranteed.
BLITZER: In May of 2012, I had a phone interview with Donald Trump. And this was shortly after the state of Hawaii officially released his birth certificate and we had this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: I don't understand why you're doubling down on this birther issue after the state of Hawaii formally says this is the legitimate birth certificate. He was born in Hawaii. Why are you going through all of this, Donald?
TRUMP (via telephone): Well, a lot of people don't agree with that birth certificate.
BLITZER: But if the state of Hawaii -- TRUMP: A lot of people do not think it's --
BLITZER: -- authorizes it.
TRUMO: -- authentic.
BLITZER: But if the state of Hawaii says this is official, he was born in Hawaii on this date, here it is, why do you deny that?
TRUMP: A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate.
BLITZER: How can you say that --
TRUMP: A lot of people -- Now, you won't report it, --
BLITZER: -- if the --
TRUMP: -- Wolf, but many people do not think it was authentic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Yes, he was clearly doubling down on that. And he suggested, even in the days that followed, he was going to further investigate this alleged birth certificate.
BORGER: Right.
BASH: Right, which didn't happen. Look, from the beginning of this presidential campaign, when he finally took the plunge, he didn't want to talk about it. He really didn't. And I mean, you tried to press him on it a couple of months ago. And as you played, you know, he tried to brush it off because, you know, that time in history and that moment for him to get on the political stage had come and gone. And he gets that innately.
But the bottom line is that he still gets asked periodically about it. Things happen that bring it up and that's exactly what happened in the past week. But particularly with this "Washington post" interview, and that's why they knew it was going to keep coming up. And now -- I can't underscore enough how hopeful the Trump campaign, that they were, that this was going to put an end to it. And Donald Trump himself said, he was born in the United States, period. I don't think there's a period there.
BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Gloria, because even before the state of Hawaii released the birth certificate, --
BORGER: Right.
BLITZER: -- I pointed out to Donald Trump two -- not one but two Honolulu daily newspapers contemporaneously --
BORGER: Right.
BLITZER: -- had published birth announcements that Barack Hussein Obama was born on August, 1961 at this hospital. And he suggested to me, he said, well, anybody could have put those announcements in the newspaper.
BORGER: But this was a lie that was -- and a conspiracy theory, a lie, whatever you want to call it, that was working for him for years. I mean, it is the thing that catapulted him to a different level on the national stage and into the political arena. So, the same thing that had taken him high to that level was suddenly threatening to derail his campaign right now. And that's why they had to make a shift. It was political expediency.
Do we know why Donald Trump changed his mind? Is there any new piece of information out there that suddenly would explain this? No. The only piece of information we have is that he's running for the presidency.
[13:15:05] He's trying to go after African-American voters, younger voters, persuadable voters who don't want to vote for someone they consider intolerant or racist in any way, shape or form, and so his campaign staff, which is smart, is saying, get this behind you.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The one thing that changes, 53 days before the election, that's the only thing that changed, 53 days before the election.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly.
BORGER: That's right.
ZELENY: I've been in Hawaii. I looked at those newspapers myself in the old microfiche, in the library, "The Honolulu Advertiser," the other paper at the time, it was printed at the time. No one would have assumed that Barack Hussein Obama then would have been the president of the United States or a candidate.
BASH: Right.
ZELENY: It's absurd. It's ridiculous. More interesting today, I think, how he wrapped himself with veterans at that event. And, yes, some of his supporters will see this as the media piling on, why are we still raising questions about this? Donald Trump bears the responsibility for this still being an issue and I think by wrapping himself with the veterans I know some liberal veteran associations are furious about this, and they think it was inappropriate entirely here. So I think that that will be discussed in the days ahead as well here.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Inappropriate that he made this announcement that the president was born in the United States -
ZELENY: Right.
BLITZER: At the end of this - this, I guess it was, some sort of an event honoring all these U.S. military personnel.
BASH: Well -
ZELENY: Exactly. A very odd way to do it, I think.
BORGER: Yes.
ZELENY: Certainly a far less grandiose than all of his other statements. I remember being in New Hampshire the day that there was a split screen where he flew in on his plane the day that the president was in the briefing room. This is, for Donald Trump to finally put an exclamation point on this -
BASH: Yes.
ZELENY: This was about as low key as he could have done it.
BASH: Well, on the veterans, it's not just that he was honoring them, and that's important, and we should all commend that, it was a political event.
ZELENY: Right.
BASH: I mean he had, you know, retired military officer after officer, decorated, come out and what their speeches were about were why Donald Trump should be president. That's what is was about. So everybody - you know he - he - he was, in Donald Trump style, he is, you know, sort of the master of media. He - he was - he was teasing it and then he ended it real fast.
BLITZER: But we've got to - we've got to wrap it up. We're going to - we've got to take a quick break. But what surprised me is Donald Trump succumbed to the enormous pressure from within his own campaign to do this. He's not the type of guy -
BASH: He's not.
BLITZER: And we've all known him for -
BORGER: Right.
BLITZER: For some time that - that really succumbs to that kind of pressure, but his advisors were saying, you've got to do this, you've got to utter these words. It's going to be hard for you to do it, but you've got to do it.
BORGER: But he didn't say he made a mistake and he didn't apologize to the president.
BLITZER: But the words alone were in contrast to everything else he had been saying so far.
BORGER: That's true. That's true. That's true. That's true.
BLITZER: And that was not an easy thing for Donald Trump to do.
All right, stand by.
Donald Trump has spent years trying to discredit President Obama. So why did he decide today to hit the brakes, to throw it into reverse? We're going to ask one of his senior adviser to the campaign. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:21:33] BLITZER: We're following the breaking news. Donald Trump announcing that he now believes President Obama was born in the United States.
Let's talk about that with a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, the former U.S. congressman from Georgia, Jack Kingston.
Congressman, thanks so much for doing it.
JACK KINGSTON, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Wolf, great to be here.
BLITZER: Why do you believe he finally uttered the words, President Obama - Barack Obama was born in the United States, period.
KINGSTON: Well, I think the press has been driving this issue and we want to talk about jobs and we want to talk about what he's been doing in the inner city and the outreach to the African-American community. And as you know, he's gone to Milwaukee, he's gone to Baton Rouge, he's gone to Detroit, went to Mexico, went to flint, Michigan. He's not afraid to go to the tough places and talk to tough audiences and talk about issues which are not traditionally Republican. And with the press bringing this up and up, he really wants to get on the issues of jobs, and safety, and education, and things that do connect -
BLITZER: This is the first time he's uttered those words going back all of these years. It was certainly not an easy thing for him to do, to finally acknowledge that the president was born in Honolulu.
KINGSTON: You know, he had - he had quit talking about it, but it still came back up. It does not show up in our polls, but it's a question that the press has kept asking. So to talk about jobs and talk about his platform that he unveiled in Detroit about safety in the inner city, education, job opportunities, this clears the decks. And, you know, Hillary Clinton doesn't have much to talk about in this area, if you look at the - the economy -
BLITZER: Was he under enormous pressure from within his campaign, from his senior advisors, do this before the debate, get it over with and move on, as difficult as uttering those words will be for you? Were his top advisers, like you and others, saying, just do it?
KINGSTON: Well, I think there was some discussion, but I think the reality is -
BLITZER: Because we heard from Kellyanne Conway last week. He believes the president was born in the United States.
KINGSTON: Yes.
BLITZER: We heard from Dr. Ben Carson -
KINGSTON: (INAUDIBLE), yes.
BLITZER: That he should go a step further and apologize to the president of the United States. Rudy Giuliani said he believes the president was born in the United States. Clearly the pressure was mounting on him to utter those words.
KINGSTON: Well, and I think him not talking about it, but his advisers saying publicly, listen, he does - he believes the president's an American citizen, was born in America, but his passion is to talk about jobs. And, you know, he's an entrepreneur. He's employed thousands and thousands of people. He's made a lot of people wealthy and given them lots of opportunities and launched other careers. And so what Donald Trump wants to talk about for the next 50 days is those opportunities in a new America, in a new economy, and not a third term of what we've been seeing under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
BLITZER: In general, over these past many months that he's been a candidate, whenever he's been asked about the birthplace of President Obama, he's said, you know what, I don't want to talk about it. This is not the time to talk about it. Except when I interviewed him back in January, he did say this after saying, I don't want to talk about it anymore. Who cares. He did say, "I have my own theory on Obama. Some day - some day I'll get - I'll write a book. I'll do another book and it will be very successful." So even then, this year, he was not convinced the president was born in Hawaii.
KINGSTON: Well, I think - I think he was convinced and that's why he quit talking about it.
BLITZER: Well, why would he say that? Why would he say, I have my own theory on Obama? Why would he - why would he say that?
KINGSTON: Well, I'm not - I'm not sure if he was referring to where he was born in that particular instance, but -
BLITZER: He - that's what we were talking about, this birthplace.
[13:25:00] KINGSTON: But I think, again, it really has not shown up in polling, but the reality is, he is a Republican candidate who's serious. It's not about show. It's not about the suburban voters. He's serious about getting the African-American vote.
BLITZER: Here's the problem. Here's the problem. That because, you know, he was so active in this spreading this birther issue, if you take a look at even a recent poll that we conducted, about 20 percent of the American public is with him. They're not convinced the president was born in the United States. This is the president, who's been president of the United States now for almost eight years. Our first African-American president. And 20 percent of the public, maybe because of Donald Trump's utterances over - over the years is convinced maybe he wasn't born in the United States.
KINGSTON: Well, I do want to say, you know, it was - it was a memo from Mark Penn (ph), Hillary Clinton's advisers, March 19, 2007, that raised the issue. And I'm not saying pushed the issue, but did -
BLITZER: We're going to talk about Penny Solis Doyle (ph) -
KINGSTON: Yes. BLITZER: Who was Hillary Clinton's campaign manager in 2007. She's going to join us in our next block. We're going to talk about what Mark Penn wrote at the time and all of that. But there was never, ever any evidence that Hillary Clinton promoted this birther issue.
KINGSTON: I think the idea that it was raised was from this Mark Penn 2007 memo. But let me say this. I had the honor of representing a district that was 30 percent African-American. I live in a town which is 50 percent African-American in Savannah, Georgia. I've been in politics there for 30 years. And if an issue is an issue among one demographic, then you, as a responsible candidate, need to respond to it. And I think that's what we saw today. We saw a leader who said, you know what, I've been listening. I want to put this to an end so I can talk about jobs and I can talk about my vision versus Hillary Clinton's vision when it comes to African-Americans and the inner city and America in general.
BLITZER: And you have no doubt where the president was born?
KINGSTON: No, I -
BLITZER: You personally?
KINGSTON: I don't. I don't. Only, I wish I was like the previous guest who got to go to Hawaii just to - for the assignment. But I know it - (INAUDIBLE), who was a delegate from the South Pacific, from Guam, or America Samoa, he - he and have gotten to be really good friends in Congress and he had spoken to me about this. But, again, we - this campaign is about jobs. This is about opportunities. It's about national security. And that's what I would like the debate to be about Monday, and I think most Americans would.
BLITZER: But you know Donald Trump, it wasn't easy for him to acknowledge publicly before the whole world, I was wrong?
KINGSTON: We are seeing the soft side of Donald Trump and it's a good thing.
BLITZER: Jack Kingston, senior adviser to the Trump campaign, thanks for joining us.
KINGSTON: Well, thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Less than eight weeks from the election and the breaking news we're following, Donald Trump now admits he believes the president is not only an American citizen but was born in the United States and he's accusing Hillary Clinton and her 2008 campaign of actually starting the whole birther controversy. Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager from those years standing by to join us live. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
