“Birther” no more

Donald Trump today definitively stepped off the “birther” bandwagon, saying he believes President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Speculations about the legitimacy of Obama’s U.S. citizenship have come up in presidential campaigns since 2008, and Trump has occasionally repeated them in tweets and interviews. Hillary Clinton made issue of Trump’s doubts in a speech Thursday at the gala of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, saying, “When will he stop this ugliness, this bigotry?” Trump responded today at the end of a campaign appearance: “President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.” Obama has released both his official Hawaiian birth certificate and the original Certificate of Live Birth (or long form birth certificate) to quell the rumors he was born outside the United States and is ineligible to be president.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.