--- title: Donald Trump Birther: Read President Obama's Speech description: "I don't know about you guys, but I am so relieved that the whole birther thing is over." canonical: https://time.com/4499409/barack-obama-donald-trump-birth-certificate-joke/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-19T15:06:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:47:21.703Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Jokey Speech About Birthers og:description: "I don't know about you, but I am so relieved that the birther thing is over." og:url: https://time.com/4499409/barack-obama-donald-trump-birth-certificate-joke/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15baa498defaa687/6988a69ffb4eac013b88f299/gettyimages-607366884-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: US President Barack Obama speaks during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Phoenix Awards Dinner on September 17, 2016 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Jokey Speech About Birthers twitter:description: "I don't know about you, but I am so relieved that the birther thing is over." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15baa498defaa687/6988a69ffb4eac013b88f299/gettyimages-607366884-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Jokey Speech About his Birth Certificate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5b8d4452-bddd-405f-a255-f0846da4748a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A History of Trump as a "Birther" [Watch (HLS stream): A History of Trump as a "Birther"](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fg2XFQPB.m3u8) (2:48)  _Published 2016-09-16. Donald Trump addressed the so-called "birther" theory, finally abandoning the long-debunked conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in the United States. "President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period," Trump said_ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 19, 2016 3:06 PM UTC by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 19, 2016 3:06 PM UTC President Obama joked about Donald Trump’s [admission that he was born in the United States](http://time.com/4496913/donald-trump-barack-obama-birther/) in a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Saturday. “I don’t know about you guys, but I am so relieved that the whole birther thing is over,” he said at the 46th annual Phoenix Awards dinner. “I mean, ISIL, North Korea, poverty, climate change — none of those things weighed on my mind like the validity of my birth certificate.” Here is a transcript of the speech. --- > “” --- ## Transcript How not to mention her in the same breath. But Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know what I mean. There's a real question about The birth certificate. Why doesn't he show his birth certificate? Why can't he produce a birth certificate. Let him show the birth certificate. Why are there no hospital records, why doesn't he issue his birth certificate? He did, he put it on a web site. He produced that long form birth cert. Well, a lot of people don't agree with you. And a lot of people feel it wasn't a proper certificate. And by the way there's a huge difference between a Birth Certificate and a Certificate of Birth. The Certificate of Live Birth meets the standard in the State Department for anyone's citizenship . >> George, George, they've co- opted you. Who's they? It's not, obviously, Obama and his minions. He may have one but there's something on that birth, maybe religion, maybe it says he's a Muslim, I don't know. You refuse to accept that the President was born in the United States. I hope he was. Because if he was then that's the greatest scam in history, not political history, in history. But they knew that the birth is just unbelievable to a point. Well, people are afraid to talk about this subject. That's the biggest pile of dog mess I've heard in ages. [ CROSSTALK ] I mean, any white presidents asked to be shown the birth certificate. When they become the United States of America, you know that he's American. [ CROSSTALK ] [ APPLAUSE ] A few weeks ago, I felt Like probably he was born in the country, today it's possibly. I'm telling you it's changed. We're gonna see what happens when. You could end this right now if you wanted to. I am embracing the issue and I'm proud of the issue. George, next question George. But just in case, there are any lingering questions. Tonight, I'm prepared to go a step further. [ LAUGH ] Tonight, for the first time, I'm releasing my official birth video. [ LAUGH ] [ MUSIC ] President Barack Obama [ MUSIC ] Was born in the United States, period. 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