--- title: Hillary Clinton Recalls Donald Trump's Past as a Birther description: In case anyone forgot, Hillary Clinton sought to remind voters Saturday: Donald Trump was once the most famous of the "birthers." canonical: https://time.com/4442080/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-birther/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-06T20:37:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:04.781Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Just Wants to Remind You: Donald Trump Was a Birther og:description: She called out something he said exactly four years ago og:url: https://time.com/4442080/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-birther/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf28eef20334e807a/69889f35524fc013eadf8e12/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-landon-stage0004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL RNC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Just Wants to Remind You: Donald Trump Was a Birther twitter:description: She called out something he said exactly four years ago twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf28eef20334e807a/69889f35524fc013eadf8e12/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-landon-stage0004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Just Wants to Remind You: Donald Trump Was a Birther > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Birther Debate Put to Rest by Trump Campaign [Watch (HLS stream): Birther Debate Put to Rest by Trump Campaign](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rzPMvuXW.m3u8) (0:53)  _Published 2016-09-16. The longstanding birther debate regarding President Barack Obama’s has come to an end according to both Donald Trump’s campaign and the republican nominee’s running mate Mike Pence - but The Donald is keeping quiet._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 6, 2016 8:37 PM UTC  Donald Trump delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 21, 2016. Donald Trump delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 21, 2016. Landon Nordeman for TIME  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 6, 2016 8:37 PM UTC In case anyone forgot, [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4441518/hillary-clinton-trust-issues/) sought to remind voters Saturday: [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4441926/donald-trump-endorses-paul-ryan/) was once the most famous of the “birthers.” Clinton used [a brief Twitter message](https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/762003451584745472) to draw attention to her Republican rival’s past as a vocal proponent of the oft-[debunked](https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss%5Fviewer/birth-certificate-long-form.pdf) conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in the United States. She tweeted [one of Trump’s own Twitter posts](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/232572505238433794) from four years ago. “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama’s birth certificate is a fraud,” Trump said on Aug. 6, 2012. Clinton, in bringing the tweet back to life, said simply: “Four years ago today.” > [](https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/762003451584745472) In the run-up to the 2012 election, Trump, who in the early part of that race flirted with launching his own campaign, repeatedly claimed he had sent investigators to Hawaii, Obama’s birth place, and that it was “absolutely unbelievable” what they were finding. He never released any information to back up those claims, but his focus on the issue made him a favorite of grassroots conservatives and helped pave the way for his success in the 2016 election. Trump has largely dropped the issue this time around—but he’s avoided acknowledging Obama’s citizenship either. Stephen Colbert asked him about the issue in an [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns7ocpRhDD8) last September: “Barack Obama, born in the United States?” “I don’t talk about that anymore,” Trump said. Clinton has mentioned Trump’s role in the “birther movement” in [speeches](http://time.com/4411058/baton-rouge-shooting-hillary-clinton-transcript/) in recent months as she attempts to court moderate and independent voters turned off by Trump’s rhetoric on the issue. Trump, meanwhile, continued to attack Clinton for saying she had “short-circuited” in inaccurately describing the head of the FBI’s critical comments about her use of a private email server. On Saturday, Trump called Clinton “brainwashed” and mocked her as robotic. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/761931010548305920) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/761936929902452740) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4442080/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-birther/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4442080/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-birther/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Just Wants to Remind You: Donald Trump Was a Birther","datePublished":"2016-08-06T20:37:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:04.781Z","description":"She called out something he said exactly four years ago","url":"https://time.com/4442080/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-birther/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf28eef20334e807a/69889f35524fc013eadf8e12/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-landon-stage0004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf28eef20334e807a/69889f35524fc013eadf8e12/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-landon-stage0004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL RNC","caption":"Donald Trump delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 21, 2016.","creditText":"Landon Nordeman for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4442080/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-birther/","name":"Hillary Clinton Just Wants to Remind You: Donald Trump Was a Birther"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Birther Debate Put to Rest by Trump Campaign","description":"The longstanding birther debate regarding President Barack Obama’s has come to an end according to both Donald Trump’s campaign and the republican nominee’s running mate Mike Pence - but The Donald is keeping quiet.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/rzPMvuXW/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-09-16T15:04:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rzPMvuXW.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4442080/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-birther/","duration":"PT53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4442080/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-birther/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```