Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said Wednesday that he believes President Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born United States citizen.
The GOP vice presidential nominee told reporters Wednesday that he “accept[s]” that Obama was born in the island state. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has publicly questioned whether Obama was born in the U.S., and has recently declined to talk about his past comments on the issue
“I believe Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, I accept his birthplace,” Pence said during a pen and pad aboard his campaign plane. “I just don’t know where he’s coming from on foreign policy and on economics and on Obamacare.”
When asked if Trump should apologize for his past claims and repeated questions on the issue, the Indiana governor declined to answer, arguing that his record of supporting minority efforts “really speaks for itself.”
“I think Donald Trump’s record both as a businessman and as a political leader and a patron in supporting minority efforts, and particularly supporting the advancement of the African-American community, really speaks for itself.”
In recent days, Trump has declined to answer questions about his past comments about Obama’s birthplace, telling reporters that he simply won’t talk about the issue. However, some of his supporters believe he should apologize for his past comments, including Dr. Ben Carson, who added that African-American voters would be more receptive to his message if he would do so.
Trump responded Tuesday night, telling Fox’s Bill O’Reilly that his past comments might hurt him with “some” African-American voters.
