{"slug":"trump-birther-campaign-obama-2011","title":"Birtherism: Five-Year Campaign Claiming Obama Was Not Born in the United States","date":"2011-03-23","lastUpdated":"2016-09-16","description":"From 2011 through 2016, Donald Trump was the most prominent promoter of the 'birther' conspiracy theory — the claim that Barack Obama was not born in the United States and was therefore ineligible to be president. Trump demanded Obama release his birth certificate, called for investigations, and said he had sent his own investigators to Hawaii. When Obama released his long-form birth certificate in April 2011, Trump took personal credit. He continued promoting birtherism through 2016. On September 16, 2016, Trump held a press conference where he falsely attributed the birther theory to Hillary Clinton and took credit for ending it, without apologizing or acknowledging the claim had been false.","summary":"Trump began promoting birtherism on television in 2011, claiming Obama was 'born in Kenya' and demanding proof of U.S. birth. When Obama released his birth certificate in April 2011, Trump claimed credit. He continued to make or amplify birther claims through 2012, 2013, 2014, and as late as August 2016. The birther movement was not factually novel — it was a conspiracy theory that had circulated in fringe circles — but Trump elevated it to mainstream political discourse. Scholars and civil rights groups documented that the theory's premise was inseparable from the claim that a Black man with the name Barack Hussein Obama could not legitimately be an American president.","category":"civil-rights","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/us/politics/donald-trump-birther-obama.html","title":"Donald Trump Clings to Birther Lie While Trying to Bury It","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-planted-and-watered-the-birther-movement-then-he-tried-to-escape-it/2016/09/16/a7e3e81c-7c3d-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html","title":"Trump planted and watered the birther movement, then tried to escape it","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/trump-obama-birther-campaign-history","title":"A timeline of Trump's birther claims about Obama","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/us/politics/28obama.html","title":"Obama Releases Long-Form Birth Certificate","publisher":"The New York Times"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["birtherism","racism","Obama","pre-presidency","conspiracy-theory","civil-rights"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2011-03-23","title":"Trump begins birther promotion on national television","summary":"Trump tells ABC News he has 'real doubts' about Obama's birth and suggests he may have been born in Kenya. He claims to have sent investigators to Hawaii. The claim elevates the fringe theory to mainstream political coverage."},{"date":"2011-04-27","title":"Obama releases long-form birth certificate","summary":"Facing sustained pressure, Obama releases his long-form birth certificate. Trump holds a press conference in New Hampshire taking personal credit for forcing the release."},{"date":"2012-08-06","title":"Trump continues birther claims on Twitter","summary":"Despite the long-form release, Trump tweets multiple times in 2012 casting doubt on the certificate's authenticity and calling for further investigation."},{"date":"2016-08-01","title":"Trump still will not confirm Obama born in U.S.","summary":"In an August 2016 Washington Post interview, Trump still will not confirm that Obama was born in the United States, saying he 'doesn't talk about it anymore.'"},{"date":"2016-09-16","title":"Trump 'ends' birtherism — falsely attributes it to Clinton","summary":"At a press conference nominally ending his birther campaign, Trump falsely claims Clinton started the theory and takes credit for resolving it. He does not apologize and does not acknowledge the claim was false."}],"location":{"name":"New York, NY","lat":40.7128,"lng":-74.006},"custom":{"era":"pre-presidency","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Barack Obama; American political discourse through sustained promotion of a racially-coded conspiracy theory about the first Black president's citizenship; political norms around accepting election legitimacy","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"Primary public promoter of birtherism from 2011 through 2016; leveraged it to build national political profile before his 2016 presidential campaign","institution":"Trump Organization / media personality"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2016-09-16","summary":"Updated with September 2016 press conference."}]}}