ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Hillary Clinton Friday said Donald Trump owes President Obama and the American people “an apology” for pushing the notion that President Obama was not born in the U.S, and that even if he flip-flops on his position now, “there is no erasing it in history.”
“For five years, he has led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president. His campaign was founded on this outrageous lie. There is no erasing it in history,” the Democratic presidential nominee said during remarks at the Black Women’s Agenda symposium in Washington, D.C.
“Just yesterday,” she continued, “Trump, again, refused to say with his own words that the president was born in the United States. Now, Donald’s advisers have the temerity to say he’s doing the country a service by pushing these lies. No. He isn’t. He’s 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,” she added.
Donald Trump, who has been a leading proponent of the “birther” notion that Obama isn’t a native-born U.S. citizen, again on Wednesday declined in an interview with the Washington Post to say whether President Obama was born in Hawaii.
His campaign later released a statement asserting that Trump “believes” Obama was born in the U.S. As of Friday morning, though, Trump has yet to say himself that he believes the president is American-born, as his birth certificate shows.
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