Donald Trump claims credit
- Trump: 'I'm honoured I have accomplished something really important'
- Obama: 'We have more important things to do'
- Trump: 'He should have done this along time ago'
- Trump now calls for Obama's Occidental college transcripts
President Barack Obama today finally caved to pressure and revealed his original birth certificate.
The White House hopes the move, which comes after months of speculation, will be a final blow to the so-called 'birther' movement which maintains the President was not born in Hawaii.
But the delay in releasing the document will be seen by Obama's detractors as a sign of weakness and leave the President open to accusations that the move should have been made earlier.
Proof: The birth certificate, confirming the President was born in the U.S.
Your fired: Obama said he was bemused over conspiracy theories concerning his birthplace, and said the media's obsession with the 'sideshow' issue was a distraction in a 'serious time'
Attack: Donald trump hit back at the President, claiming credit for the release and asking to see his college records
The issue of whether Barack Obama was born in the U.S. has dogged the Presidet since his 2008 campaign.
So-called 'birthers' - a group of Republicans, right wing 'Tea Party' activists and high profile personalities such as Donald Trump - all maintained that the President was not born on American soil, and therefore was ineligible under the U.S. constitution to hold office.
They speculated he was born in either Kenya or Indonesia, and that his determined refusal to prove otherwise by releasing a birth certificate was proof that he had something to hide.
In recent months Donald Trump, who has talked about a potential run for the 2012 Presidential election, captured the doubts of a growing number of Americans - repeatedly hammering Obama to release the certificate and finally put the debate to bed.
The news comes just days after a poll revealed only 38 per cent of Americans believe Obama was born in the U.S.
Speaking shortly after the certificate was released today, President Obama said: 'This issue has been going on for two and a half years.
'I have watched with bemusement.
'We have posted the certification that is given by the state of Hawaii. And yet this thing keeps on going.
'Normally I would not comment on this - I have more important things to do.
The President said that in releasing the document, he hoped the debate would finally be put to rest - allowing policy makers and the press to focus on more pressing issues.
He added: 'I'm speaking to the vast majority of people- we have more important things to do.'
Donald Trump, speaking moments after the announcement, addressed the President saying: ' Why didn’t you do this a long time ago.
'I hope it checks out beautifully, I am really proud and really honoured, now we can talk about oil, we can talk about gas and we can talk about china, we can deal with issues that are really really important and I am honoured about it.
'I feel I have accomplished something really important and I'm honoured by it.'
Place of Birth
The certificate shows the place of birth As Kapiolani Hospital, Honolulu and the President's mothers house
The certificate shows the president was born at the Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, Honolulu, a detail not included on the long-form certificate.
At the time his mother, Ann Dunham, was living at 6085 Kalanianaole Highway.
The yellow, four-bedroom single-storey home was built in 1948 and is still standing.
In 2009, WND obtained documents showing the property was bought by Orland Scott Lefforge, a University of Hawaii professor, and his wife Thelma Young, in 1959.
The property was rented by Ann's parents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham.
It was suggested Mr Obama's mother and father may have shared a 450-square foot cottage at the back, built in 1953, or that his father may have kept up his student digs at 625 11th Avenue, Kaimuki
President's Father
The certificate shows the place of birth As Kapiolani Hospital, Honolulu and the President's mothers house
The president's father is listed as Barack Hussein Obama, a 25-year-old student born in Kenya in 1936.
At the time his son was born, he was studying maths and economics at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
He won a scholarship through a program organised by nationalist leader Tom Mboya, and left behind his first wife and a baby son, Roy, at his home in Kenya.
When he enrolled at the university in September 1959, he was the institution’s first African student.
The student met his future wife, Ann, at a Russian language class at the university a year later.
The couple married on February 2, 1961, after Ann fell pregnant with Barack.
President's Mother
The certificate shows the place of birth As Kapiolani Hospital, Honolulu and the President's mothers house
Mr Obama's mother is recorded as Stanley Ann Durham, who was only 18 when she gave birth to the future president.
She was born in Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Honolulu with her parents in 1960, shortly after she graduated from high school.
Proof? CNN spoke to friends of Mr Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, who say they remember the president being born
She enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she met her future husband, Kenyan student Barack Obama senior.
He admitted he had been married, but claimed was divorced - although in fact his first wife, Kezia, later said she had given him consent to marry again according to local customs.
The release of the document will be a blow to outspoken property tycoon Trump, who has played heavily on the issue of the President's birth.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer' said: 'This whole birther debate has been really bad for the Republican Party.
He added the whole debate over the President's birth was, 'crowding out the debate' on more important issues.
The 64-year-old also suggested in an interview that President Barack Obama was a poor student who did not deserve to be admitted into the Ivy League universities he attended.
His high-profile allegations about the president's origins appear to have gained traction with voters, with 38 per cent saying they are not convinced he was born in America, according to the USA Today-commissioned poll.
The news comes as the birther campaign was seriously undermined by an in-depth CNN investigation, which appeared to offer final proof the president was born in Hawaii.
Interviewers travelled to Hawaii, where they spoke to Dr Chiyome Fukino, a former director of the state's Department of Health - and staunch Republican.
In her first TV interview, she said she has seen the long-form version of his birth certificate in the department's vaults and has 'no doubt' Mr Obama was born in the state.
She said the certificate is 'absolutely authentic... he was absolutely born here in the state of Hawaii.'
THE CERTIFICATE SAGA
The president's decision to release his long-form birth certificate comes after years of campaigning by birthers, who claimed the document would reveal he was not born in the U.S.
They had dismissed a computerised short-form 'certification of live birth' which he issued during his 2008 presidential campaign. The said it is not sufficient proof of his U.S. citizenship, because it is not signed and does not include the hospital he was born in.
They instead demanded to see the longer version, and said Mr Obama refused to release it because it would 'prove' he was not born in Hawaii, would reveal he was a Muslim - or even that it didn't exist at all.
Last week a Hawaii senator argued he was reluctant to release it because it would show 'who is actually listed as his father.'
Despite the birthers' claims, the short-form version, issued immediately for $7 to anyone born in Hawaii, is the only one recognised for legal and official purposes by authorities.
Long-form, signed 'certificates of live birth' are held in a Department of Health vault, and under state law they can be examined by public officials, but only if there is a 'direct and tangible interest'.
For individuals to get hold of their own birth certificate, they have to go through a lengthy Freedom of Information procedure - one reason why Mr Obama may have delayed publishing his.
The details listed on the long-form version support the 'certification' and refute the birthers' allegations.
It does not even contain a space for religion, for either the president or his parents, and lists his father as Barack Hussein Obama.
Hawaii's former director of public health, Dr Chiyome Fukino - a staunch Republican - had previously examined the certificate in the state's vaults.
She told CNN the certificate was 'absolutely authentic'.
A reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin also came forward to counter the birthers' claims that an August 1961 birth announcement for Mr Obama was a fake.
Dan Nakaso told CNN that was impossible, because at the time information came directly from the Department of Health.
Interviewers also spoke to people on the island who remember Mr Obama being born, including state governor Neil Abercrombie, who once again recalled celebrating his birth.
Mr Waidelich's mother, Monika, said she believes she saw the future president in Honolulu's Kapi'olani Medical Center next to her son. She said: 'In those days, there were hardly any other black babies.'
Professor Alice Dewey, a faculty advisor to his mother, Ann Dunham, at the University of Hawaii, recalled a conversation in which Mrs Dunham compared the birth of Mr Obama to that of his sister, Maya.
The professor said: 'She said, "When I had Maya, it was a lot of more difficult because Indonesia doesn't believe in painkillers while you're giving birth. ... Of course, in the United States, giving birth to Barry (Obama's childhood nickname) was quite different and much more comfortable.".'
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