Trump campaign: Trump believes Barack Obama was born in the United States
In the statement, Trump campaign senior communications advisor Jason Miller gives Trump credit for "compelling" Obama to release his birth certificate in 2012, and claims the document put Trumps concerns to bed.
"Inarguably, Donald J. Trump is a closer. Having successfully obtained President Obama's birth certificate when others could not, Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States," Miller said in the statement.
However, earlier Thursday, Trump was unwilling to say that Obama was born in the US, and has declined to do so numerous times during the campaign season.
"I'll answer that question at the right time," Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post. "I just don't want to answer it yet.
The campaign statement also conflicts with several tweets Trump made after April 27, 2011, the date Obama released his long-form birth certificate, in which Trump casts doubt on the veracity of the document.
Read the full statement below:
"Hillary Clinton's campaign first raised this issue to smear then-candidate Barack Obama in her very nasty, failed 2008 campaign for President. This type of vicious and conniving behavior is straight from the Clinton Playbook. As usual, however, Hillary Clinton was too weak to get an answer. Even the MSNBC show Morning Joe admits that it was Clinton's henchmen who first raised this issue, not Donald J. Trump.
In 2011, Mr. Trump was finally able to bring this ugly incident to its conclusion by successfully compelling President Obama to release his birth certificate. Mr. Trump did a great service to the President and the country by bringing closure to the issue that Hillary Clinton and her team first raised. Inarguably, Donald J. Trump is a closer. Having successfully obtained President Obama's birth certificate when others could not, Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States.
Mr. Trump is now totally focused on bringing jobs back to America, defeating radical Islamic terrorism, taking care of our veterans, introducing school choice opportunities and rebuilding and making our inner cities safe again."