April 7, 2011: Trump Sends ‘Investigators’ to Hawaii to Confirm or Disprove Obama’s Birth in Honolulu

Donald Trump, the billionaire entrepeneur and television show host who, it is rumored, may run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012, announces he has sent a team of his own private investigators to Hawaii to learn if President Obama was actually born there. Trump has repeatedly proclaimed his doubts over Obama’s citizenship, almost single-handedly reviving the “birther” controversy from 2008-09 (see February 10, 2011, March 17, 2011, March 23, 2011, March 23, 2011, March 28, 2011, March 28-29, 2011, March 30, 2011, April 1, 2011, April 1, 2011, April 1-8, 2011, and April 7, 2011). Trump tells an NBC reporter that his investigators might uncover “one of the greatest cons in the history of politics and beyond.… I have people that have been studying it and they cannot believe what they’re finding” (see April 7, 2011). Trump asserts, falsely, that Obama has “spent $2 million in legal fees trying on to get away from this issue (see April 7-10, 2011), and if it weren’t an issue, why wouldn’t he just solve it?” He says that Obama’s US citizenship may be “one of the greatest scams in the history of politics and in the history, period.… Right now, I have real doubts.” Recent CNN polls show that three-quarters of Americans believe Obama is an American citizen, but 43 percent of Republicans believe he is not. Trump says he will announce his decision to run for president after his television show, Celebrity Apprentice, finishes its season run. He brags: “I hate to say it. I have the No. 1 show on NBC. Is that the correct statement? The Celebrity Apprentice is doing great. You’re not allowed to have a show on and be a candidate. It’s a great show and it’s got phenomenal ratings, and until that show is over I can’t declare, otherwise NBC would have to take the show off the air and that would be very unfair.” The show’s final episode will air in mid-May 2011. [CNN, 4/7/2009; Huffington Post, 4/7/2011]