Allegations about the involvement of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign in spreading rumors about President Obama’s birth certificate continued to build through the weekend, leading Democrats to provide answers that ranged from denials to reported apologies, and culminating with the party’s flustered nominee for vice president trying to talk instead about slavery.
“From the time African-Americans arrived here in 1619 through the end of the civil War, an African-American could not be a citizen of the United States,” Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said in a Sunday morning interview on CNN. “We had to change the Constitution,” he added, as anchor Jake Tapper tried to interject, saying, “I get it, sir.”
Kaine failed to respond to Tapper’s question. “Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime Clinton confidante and friend, was peddling the birther lie in 2008, according to the former Washington bureau chief of the McClatchy news group,” Tapper pointed out. “Has Secretary Clinton, or the campaign in anyway, looked into whether Blumenthal was pushing the birther lie?”
The issue arose after a Friday press conference in which Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump recollected the involvement of Clinton’s 2008 campaign in fomenting the issue. “Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it,” he said. “You know what I mean.”
Though Trump’s statement was initially overshadowed by the media’s protestations that the press conference didn’t go as expected, the issue gained steam after a tweet from former McClatchy Washington Bureau Chief James Asher that said Blumenthal “told me in person” that the president was born in Kenya. Blumenthal denied the allegation.
The developments took place the same day Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton’s former campaign manager, admitted on CNN that at least one volunteer campaign leader made an effort to disseminate the rumor. Doyle added that she had called the Obama campaign “to apologize” and say that it was “not coming from us” but from a “rogue volunteer coordinator.”
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The Drudge Report, meanwhile, linked to video of a 2008 debate between Clinton and Obama, in which Clinton was forced to say there was “no evidence” her campaign had given the site a photograph of Obama dressed in traditional Somali garb during a visit to Africa.
On Sunday, at least one morning anchor was still refusing to acknowledge the developments. “What is the proof?” ABC’s Martha Raddatz asked in an interview with the Republican nominee for vice president, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
Raddatz, who with CNN’s Anderson Cooper will co-host the second presidential debate on Oct. 9, insisted her network’s top investigators had been unable to find any evidence of Clinton’s participation in the rumor. “We can’t find any, and our fact checkers have looked into it, that Hillary Clinton started the birther movement … reports from people in my industry say there’s no proof Hillary Clinton had anything to do with it.”
Pence simply responded that he understood her position. “I understand your perspective on it,” he replied, adding that he understood “the desire of many in the national media” to change the subject from Clinton’s record. “We’re just not going to play that game. Donald Trump and I are going to continue to focus right where the American people are focused.”
