--- title: Donald Trump Admits Obama Was Born in the U.S.: Transcript description: Read Donald Trump's full remarks from a Friday event at which he briefly addressed the "birther" conspiracy theory canonical: https://time.com/4497626/donald-trump-birther-address-transcript/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-16T20:13:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:36.578Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Trump's Speech Admitting President Obama Was Born in the U.S. og:description: Read Donald Trump's full remarks from a Friday event at which he briefly addressed the "birther" conspiracy theory og:url: https://time.com/4497626/donald-trump-birther-address-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77a1534b3f32bcd0/6988a67c524fc0cb07df9832/trump-birther-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5568 og:image:height: 3132 og:image:alt: Trump International Hotel Event og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Trump's Speech Admitting President Obama Was Born in the U.S. twitter:description: Read Donald Trump's full remarks from a Friday event at which he briefly addressed the "birther" conspiracy theory twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77a1534b3f32bcd0/6988a67c524fc0cb07df9832/trump-birther-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Donald Trump's Speech Finally Admitting President Obama Was Born in the U.S. > 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.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 16, 2016 8:13 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign event with veterans at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave., NW, on Sept. 16, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign event with veterans at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave., NW, on Sept. 16, 2016. Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Sep 16, 2016 8:13 PM UTC Donald Trump on Friday [briefly addressed the “birther” conspiracy](http://time.com/4496913/donald-trump-barack-obama-birther/?xid=homepage)—of which he was long one of the most vocal proponents—and acknowledged that President Obama was born in the United States. At a media event billed as an announcement about his stance on Obama’s birthplace, Trump spent most of the time discussing his new Washington, D.C., hotel and introducing members of the military who are supporting his presidential campaign. Trump only mentioned the birther issue in about 40 words at the end of his speech, falsely saying that Hillary Clinton started the [birther movement](http://time.com/4496792/birther-rumor-started/?xid=homepage) in 2008 and that he was the one to end it. There is [no evidence](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/23/donald-trump/hillary-clinton-obama-birther-fact-check/) that Clinton or her campaign ever pushed the birther argument, and Trump continued to raise questions about Obama’s birth long after Obama’s full birth certificate was released. 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