Trump: A boost or detriment to Romney?‘The Donald’ responds to Obama campaign attack ads that revive his birther charges, his feud with George Will and his campaigning for Romney
via Foxnews
On a day where many in the press had excoriated Republican nominee Mitt Romney for campaigning with Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman stood firm in his refusal to back down from his controversial allegations against President Obama.
In a heated phone interview with Greta van Susteren last night, Trump was very blunt in noting that he was not responsible for bringing up the issue, accusing the media of raising the issue.
When asked by Greta what it would take for him to be satisfied that Obama’s birth certificate was authentic, Trump cited the piece from Breitbart.com two weeks ago reporting claims by a literary agent in 1991 that Obama was born in Kenya as to why he has doubts about the document’s legitimacy.
Without giving a definitive answer, Trump insisted, “There’s a lot of questions as to the authenticity of the birth certificate. So you can believe it or you don’t have to believe it, but certainly, there are many, many questions.”
Greta made no attempt to hide her disapproval of the issue, voicing her concerns that, “We’re not talking about jobs. We’re not talking about China. We’re doing all this name-calling.”
Trump fired back at her criticisms, stating, “but that’s because you and Wolf, whose ratings are just a tiny fraction of yours, you’ll be happy to know — but that’s because you and everybody want to bring this up.”
This follows a fiery exchange that Trump had with Wolf Blitzer of CNN regarding the same ‘birther’ controversy. When Blitzer told Trump that he was “beginning to sound a little ridiculous,” Trump shot back that CNN’s recent drop in ratings was the reason why Wolf brought the issue up.
Even with all of the criticism, the Romney campaign has made no attempt to distance itself from Trump’s support. Top Romney aides believe that the issue is insignificant when compared to real issues, such as the economy and unemployment. They believe a repudiation of Donald Trump would show weakness, and would give Obama opportunity to bring the issue up again.
