Trump Launches Birther Campaign on National Television, Questioning Obama's American Birth

Real estate developer Donald Trump appears on ABC's The View on March 23, 2011 and declares he has "real doubts" about whether Barack Obama — the first Black president in U.S. history — was born in the United States. Trump appears on the Today show and CNN in the same week making the same claim. He demands Obama release his long-form birth certificate, a document not required of any previous president. Trump writes a USA Today op-ed pressing the demand. Obama's official Hawaiian birth certificate has been publicly available since 2008; FactCheck.org staff physically examined and photographed it. Trump's amplification mainstreams what had been a fringe conspiracy theory, giving it its first prominent mainstream proponent. On April 27, 2011, Obama releases his long-form birth certificate from the Hawaii Department of Health. Trump claims credit for forcing its release. He continues questioning its authenticity for years — tweeting in August 2012 that "an extremely credible source" told him it was "a fraud."