Trump kept 'birther' beliefs going long after Obama's birth certificate was released

Published Fri, Sep 16 20164:06 PM EDT

Erik Ortiz

Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Donald Trump finally admitted Friday that he now believes President Barack Obama was born in America, after the GOP nominee refused earlier this week to say where he stands on the issue.

Trump's sharp shift comes after his campaign suggested Thursday night it was the GOP nominee himself who helped to "bring this ugly incident to its conclusion" by prodding the president to release his birth certificate in 2011.

But Trump's trail of tweets since 2011 shows he wasn't willing to let his "birther" beliefs and the conspiracy theories spawned from the movement die down even after that birth certificate was made public.

Trump resurrected the issue in early 2012 when he tweeted: "Made in America?" and linked to a story on the conservative site WorldNetDaily about Obama's long-form birth certificate — which shows he was born in Hawaii — being questioned in a New Jersey court.

Made in America? @BarackObama argues that his long form birth certificate is irrelevant in court.http://bit.ly/HNTQaT

He again raised his suspicions in the months ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

Let's take a closer look at that birth certificate. @BarackObama was described in 2003 as being "born in Kenya." http://bit.ly/Klc9Uu

In his own words, @BarackObama "was born in Kenya, and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii." This statement was made, (cont) http://tl.gd/hkim3j

Congratulations to @RealSheriffJoe on his successful Cold Case Posse investigation which claims @BarackObama's 'birth certificate' is fake

Via @BreitbartFeed--why doesn't@BarackObama release his original book proposal which says he was born in Kenya?http://bit.ly/Q64IJf

In August 2012, Trump doubled down, tweeting that an "extremely credible source" called his office and said Obama's "birth certificate is a fraud."

An 'extremely credible source' has called my office and told me that @BarackObama's birth certificate is a fraud.

People should be proud of the fact that I got Obama to release his birth certificate, which in a recent book he "miraculously" found.

He also tweeted about conspiracies that Obama's birth certificate was a "computer generated forgery" and that a state health director who verified the document "died in a plane crash" while "all others lived." (Trump was referring to Hawaii health official Loretta Fuddy.)

"@obamafraudulent: @realDonaldTrump@d18mt2 The birth certificate that you forced Obama to show is a computer generated forgery.

How amazing, the State Health Director who verified copies of Obama's "birth certificate" died in plane crash today. All others lived

The following year, Trump wasn't done congratulating himself about Obama releasing his birth certificate, tweeting in June 2014 that "Hillary couldn't, McCain couldn't."

Always remember, I was the one who got Obama to release his birth certificate, or whatever that was! Hilary couldn't, McCain couldn't.

But then, he also called on internet hackers to find Obama's college records to "check 'place of birth.'"

Attention all hackers: You are hacking everything else so please hack Obama's college records (destroyed?) and check "place of birth"

"@futureicon: @pinksugar61 Obama also fabricated his own birth certificate after being pressured to produce one by@realDonaldTrump"