Barack Obama jokes he was ‘born in Kenya’ in swipe at Donald Trump who pushed ‘birther’ conspiracy that he not natural-born US citizen
The conspiracy forced the White House to release the 44th President's birth certificate in 2011
Barack Obama joked he was “born in Kenya” in a swipe at Donald Trump’s accusations that he was not a natural-born US citizen and therefore not eligible for the presidency.
Obama made the quip when he took the stage at the Obama Foundation Global Summit in Chicago, to thunderous laughter.
The 44th President of the United States said: “The reason I’m so excited to see you all here today in part is because this is where I started.
“This isn’t where I was born, I was born in Kenya. That’s a joke.”
Obama’s successor Donald Trump was a huge supporter of the so-called “birther conspiracy” and accused Obama of lying about being born in Hawaii.
During his election campaign he eventually acknowledged that the ex-president was born in the US.
Trump said: “President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period.
“Now, we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.”
The so called “birther” movement was prominent during Obama’s election campaigns, with many of his opponents speculating that he was not born in Hawaii as he claimed.
The conspiracy theory gained momentum as not being born on United States soil bars people from holding the office of President.
Following months of speculation the White House released the original copy of Obama’s birth certificate showing he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2011.
In March Obama’s Trump supporting half-brother made a bid to reignite the theory by tweeting a picture of what he claimed was the president’s real birth certificate.
The Kenyan “birth certificate” had originally been offered for sale on eBay in 2009.
The auction site took it down as it violated its policy prohibiting government documents being sold, but it sparked the conspiracy amongst right wing circles.
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