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Donald Trump tried to tamp down a newly revived campaign dust-up Friday over his views on President Obamas birthplace, declaring the president was born in the United States period after declining to make that statement earlier this week.

The Republican presidential nominee also tried to blame Hillary Clinton for starting the controversy back in 2008, which her team denies. He cast his remarks as a bid to put the issue to rest once and for all, at a time when his poll numbers are rising.

Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it, Trump said in Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again.

He spoke at his new Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., a visit that began with lengthy remarks from military supporters and veterans. He briefly addressed the birther issue at the end.

The statement comes after Trumps response on the matter in an interview Wednesday revived the issue. In the interview withThe Washington Post, Trump was asked whether he believed Obama was born in the U.S. "I'll answer that question at the right time," Trump told the paper. "I just don't want to answer it yet."

Trumps campaign spokesman, trying to calm the waters, said overnight the Republican candidate now believes Obama was born in the U.S. Campaign spokesman Jason Miller said Trump "did a great service to the country" by bringing closure to the debate.

"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," Miller said.

But the Clinton campaign seized on Trumps reluctance to address the issue in his Post interview.

Speaking shortly before Trump across town at the Black Women's Agenda Symposium, Clinton said Friday the Republican nominee was feeding into the bigotry and bias that lurks in our country and should apologize.

Barack Obama was born in America, she said. Donald Trump owes him and the American people an apology.

Her campaign called his Friday comments "disgraceful."

The dust-up comes as Trump gains on Clinton in national and battleground state polls, even surpassing her in some states.

A new Fox News poll shows Clinton topping Trump by just one point among likely voters in the four-way ballot nationally.

In the head-to-head matchup, Trumps up by one point.

Both candidates were fundraising Friday after events in Washington. Clinton has endured a rough week on the campaign trail, after criticizing some Trump supporters last Friday as "deplorables" and then having to take time off from the campaign due to a bout of pnemonia.

She used the birther issue to try and go back on offense.

While Obama was born in Hawaii, Trump several years ago was a key figure in stoking the so-called "birther" controversy. Critics saw it as an attempt to delegitimize the nations first black president.

Trump has said repeatedly during the campaign that he no longer talks about the "birther" issue.

The Trump campaigns statement late Thursday claimed that Clinton launched the birther movement during her unsuccessful primary run against Obama in 2008.

"Hillary Clinton's campaign first raised this issue to smear then-candidate Barack Obama in her very nasty, failed 2008 campaign for President," the statement said. "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."

Clinton has long denied the claim, and fact-checkers previously have found no public evidence that she or her campaign directly pushed the issue. Rather, Trumps comments appear to refer to reports that Clinton supporters circulated an email during the bitter 2008 primary race questioning Obamas citizenship.

Yet former McClatchy D.C. bureau chief James Asher said on Twitter Friday that Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal in fact told me in person that Obama was born in Kenya.

Obama had released a standard short form of his birth certificate before the 2008 presidential election. Anyone who wants a copy of the more detailed, long-form document must submit a waiver request, and have that request approved by Hawaii's health department.

In 2011, amid persistent questions from Trump about his birthplace, Obama submitted a waiver request. He dispatched his personal lawyer to Hawaii to pick up copies and carry the documents back to Washington on a plane.

The form said Obama was born at 7:24 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu. It is signed by the delivery doctor, Obama's mother and the local registrar.

At the White House on Friday, Obama declined to comment at length on the issue, saying hes got other business to attend to and is confident about where he was born.

Fox News Nicholas Kalman and Tamara Gitt and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Trump, Clinton trade barbs over Obama 'birther' flap | Fox ...

Obama didn't directly address Hillary Clinton's bout with pneumonia, which has kept her housebound as the campaign enters its final stretch. But he did issue a warning for anyone who's questioning the Democratic candidate's ability to perform the job.

"You want to debate who's more fit to be president? One candidate has traveled to more countries than any other secretary of state has. Has more qualifications than any candidate in history. And the other who isn't fit in any way shape or form to represent this country abroad or to be its commander in chief," Obama said at roaring campaign rally in Philadelphia.

He dismissed questions about Clinton's transparency, which arose after she kept quiet her pneumonia diagnosis for several days. Instead, he ripped into Trump's decision to withhold his tax returns, a historic break from precedent.

"You want to debate transparency? You've got one candidate in this race who's released decades' worth of her tax returns. The other candidate is the first in decades who refuses to release any at all," Obama said.

For Obama, Tuesday's event was a return to the rollicking campaign events that thrust him into the White House eight years ago, and won him reelection in 2012. He exclaimed as he took the stage here it was "good to be back on the campaign trail," a sentiment that was returned by loud cheers by the crowd of hundreds.

"Can I just say I am really into electing Hillary Clinton?" Obama told the crowd, which enthusiastically greeted him. "This is not me just going through the motions here. I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton."

Obama is just one of a cavalry of top White House Democrats -- also including First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden -- who are arguing Clinton's case this week as the Democratic nominee herself is convalescing from pneumonia and absent from the trail.

The timing is opportune for a campaign eager both to spotlight its most popular surrogates and to move past a rocky patch. While Obama's Philadelphia stop was planned well ahead of Clinton's declaration that half of her rival's supporters were "deplorable" and new worries about her transparency, the campaign hopes the President's rally can at least provide a new storyline.

But even an appearance from Obama -- whose approval rating reached a nearly eight-year high of 58% in an ABC/Washington Post poll Monday -- won't necessarily cure all of Clinton's woes as the campaign enters its busiest stretch. The White House Monday said Obama would not be relegated to "damage control" for Clinton's stumbles, and he declined to address either the "deplorable" dust-up or her illness directly.

Instead, Obama leaned hard into his criticisms of Trump, using his stature as commander in chief to disqualify the Republican candidate.

"You've got the Donald, who just last week went on Russian television to talk down our military and curry favor with Vladimir Putin," Obama said, referring to an interview appearance on RT. "He loves this guy! Think about what's happened in the Republican Party," Obama said. "They used to be opposed to Russia and authoritarianism and fighting for freedom. Now their nominee is out there praising a guy, saying he's a strong leader, because he invades smaller countries, jails his opponents."

"This isn't Abraham Lincoln's Republican Party," Obama added later. "This is a dark, pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against one another, where we turn against the world. They aren't offering serious solutions, they are fanning resentment, and hate. That is not the America I know."

Michelle Obama is also stumping for Clinton this week. The first lady makes her first campaign appearance for the Democratic nominee on Friday, promoting voter registration in Northern Virginia. Loathe to engage directly in bitter partisan politics, the first lady is more likely to spell out a more affirmative case for Clinton, according to aides.

Biden, who talked up Clinton during a stop Monday in Charlotte, was more candid in his assessments, suggesting the candidate gets a "bum rap" when he was asked about her remarks casting some of Trump's supporters as deplorable.

"For every time she will say something where she says, 'Well, maybe I should have said something different,' think if they held Trump to that standard," Biden said. "He'd be in trouble. He is in trouble."

Even as Clinton is increasingly relying on Obama to carry her message to young and minority voters, the demands on the President's time have largely forestalled an aggressive campaign schedule thus far.

Tuesday's event in Philadelphia is only Obama's second campaign stop for Clinton, after a joint appearance in Charlotte in July. Since then, Obama has helped raised money from Democratic donors, including during his vacation on Martha's Vineyard last month, but he hasn't headlined another rally until now.

White House officials point to a largely inflexible schedule of presidential commitments this month as a barrier to more frequent campaigning. While past presidents have faced similar obligations in the waning days of their tenures, Obama is more popular -- and thus in higher demand as a campaigner than his most recent predecessors.

In August, Obama's aides made a day-by-day assessment of the President's commitments until election day, discovering few moments in September that would allow for rallies in key battleground states on behalf of Clinton.

Obama on Friday concluded a week-long swing through Asia, with stops on the front end in Nevada, Hawaii and Midway Island meant to burnish his environmental legacy.

Even Tuesday's rally was restricted to a relatively close-by location. Obama had business at the White House Monday evening when he met with congressional leaders, and is due to meet Burmese State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi in the Oval Office on Wednesday.

Obama's four-day obligation at the United Nations General Assembly next week makes adding a campaign stop difficult before the end of the month. And while the campaign may arise implicitly during Obama's final address to the gathering of world leaders -- he's expected to recap eight years of foreign policy, providing a contrast to Trump's proposals -- it's hardly the setting for a fiery political throw-down.

Even in October, when the race will enter its frenzied sprint, the demands of the presidency mean an all-out, every-day-on-the-trail presence for Obama is unrealistic. Already the President's schedule is filling up. The White House announced Monday that Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi would visit on October 18, a day-long affair that will stretch into a late State Dinner. A government funding battle also seems likely to occupy the President's time this month.

Many of the states that officials say Obama will target -- including Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Michigan -- are easily accessible in a single day-trip on Air Force One, but would leave few moments for other business at the White House.

Given Obama's sway among young and minority voters -- populations historically difficult to get to the polls -- there is pressure for the President to hit many states before their voting registration deadline passes. In Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, that means showing up before October 11.

"I think what is clear is that the President does have a lot of influence over a large number of voters that haven't previously been regularly engaged in politics," Earnest said Monday, adding the Clinton campaign is "hoping that the President will be helpful in making the case on their behalf to motivate voters to get registered and to participate on Election Day."

CNN's Naomi Lim contributed to this report.

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Obama: 'I really, really, really want to elect Hillary ...

President Obama returned Tuesday to the campaign trail to help fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton through arguably the rockiest stretch of her White House campaign, brushing aside the controversies that have dogged her candidacy and assuring voters she's fit for office -- as she spends a second day off the trail on doctor's orders.

You want to debate who is more fit to be our president? Obama asked the crowd at a rally in Philadelphia. One candidate [has] traveled to more countries than any secretary of state ever has. ... And the other isnt fit in any way, shape or form to represent this country.

Obama spoke two days after Clinton appeared ill at 9/11 memorial event in New York City, which was followed by her campaign revealing she has pneumonia.

Clinton will return to the campaign trail on Thursday, according to a spokesman.

Nick Merrill said Clinton spent Tuesday "catching up on reading briefings, making calls, and she watched President Obama's speech in Philadelphia on TV."

The incident Sunday, in which Clinton could be seen stumbling as she abruptly left the event, fueled questions from Republicans and others about the 68-year-old Clintons health. It also increased calls for her and Donald Trump, her 70-year-old Republican rival, to promptly release more medical records, which each has vowed to do.

But aside from the glancing reference to Clinton being "fit," Obama tried to refocus voters Tuesday on her qualifications and the risk he argues is posed by Trump's candidacy. He sought to portray Trumps campaign and vision for America as dark and pessimistic and where people turn against each other.

She treats everyone with respect, Obama said. She knows that love trumps hate.He also referred to her as a mother and grandmother who will do anything to help our children do better.

Obama also downplayed the controversy over the Clinton Foundation, saying it has saved countless lives. At the same time, Obama made no reference to another controversy that has hung over her campaign in recent days -- comments Friday that half of Trumps supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables.

Trump has hammered Clinton for the remarks and called on her to retract them.

Earlier Tuesday, Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence argued Clintons comments were hurtful to Americans. And he again called on her to apologize and fully retract them.

Clinton has expressed regret for making the comments but implied only for saying half of the supporters are deplorables.

I think millions of Americans were shocked and saddened, Pence, the governor of Indiana, said on Capitol Hill after meeting with House Republicans. For Hillary Clinton to express such disdain for millions of Americans I think is one more reason that disqualified her to serve in the highest office of the land. So we'll call on her again to apologize and retract her comments.

Also on Tuesday, the Trump campaign released a statement about Obama's rally that in part stated: "Shouldn't you be at work?" And it suggested he prefers campaiging for Clinton over solving the "major problems facing the country."

While Obama never spoke directly about Clintons health or Trumps controversial remarks about women, Muslims and Mexican immigrants, he suggested several times in his roughly 20-minute speech that Clinton has in her political career -- including her tenure as secretary of state -- repeatedly demonstrated her stamina and that she would swiftly return to the campaign. He called her "steady" and "true."

She never quits, Obama said, also arguing that Clinton, as the countrys top diplomat, circled the globe countless times to try to work with other world leaders. Hillary Clinton is tough.

See the rest here:
Obama hits campaign trail for Clinton amid rough patch ...

Duterte, who cursed Obama as a "son of a bitch" Monday, said in a statement through his spokesman that he regretted "it came across as a personal attack on the US President."

"We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions," the statement released on Tuesday read.

"Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people," Duterte scoffed in a speech Monday. "Son of a bitch, I will swear at you."

A statement from Duterte's office Tuesday claimed the "son of the bitch" insult was aimed at the journalist whose question prompted the fiery response, and not at Obama.

Obama has worked hard to develop the Philippines' partnership with the US and as a regional counterbalance to China. He's visited the country twice in his second term, and announced on a stop there in November the return of a US military presence at a critical naval base on the South China Sea.

But Duterte's derogatory comments and a spike in extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers put the relationship in stormier waters.

Obama and Duterte had been set to meet in Laos this week, where Obama is attending a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders. The statement from Duterte's spokesman said the "meeting has been mutually agreed upon to be moved to a later date."

Obama instead met Tuesday with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea.

In his speech Monday, Duterte also blamed the United States for causing the unrest on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao.

"As a matter of fact, we inherited this problem from the United States," he said. "Why? Because they invaded this country and made us their subjugated people. Everybody has a terrible record of extrajudicial killing. Why make an issue about fighting crime?"

Duterte was referring to the US's history as a colonial power in the Philippines, and specifically to one infamous massacre in the southern Philippines -- the 1906 Battle of Bud Dajo -- in which hundreds of Filipinos, including women and children, were killed.

"How many died? Six hundred," Duterte said Monday. "If (Obama) can answer that question and give the apology, I will answer him."

Obama indicated Monday he was wary of meeting with Duterte, suggesting the bombast could prevent making substantial progress between the two nations.

"If and when we have a meeting, this is something that is going to be brought up," Obama said, referring to the Philippines' controversial record of combating drug crime since Duterte took office earlier this year.

Later, on Monday afternoon, the White House announced the meeting was canceled.

"Double your efforts. Triple them, if need be. We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier, and the last pusher have surrendered or [been] put behind bars -- or below the ground, if they so wish," Duterte said during his State of the Nation speech on July 25.

"We do not condone these acts," Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said.

"(The) government is here to save our people from the drug menace and punish the offenders, including the big-time ones. The PNP (Philippines National Police) continues to investigate situations involving vigilante killings and operational aspects where deaths are reported."

CNN's Ben Westcott, Tim Hume, Antoine Sanfuentes and Euan McKirdy contributed to this report

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After cursing Obama, Duterte expresses regret

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping submitted their nations' plans to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon here, the host city of this year's Group of 20 meetings.

The US and China are the world's largest carbon polluters, and officials hope their formal entry into the Paris accord will spur other nations to come aboard. The Paris agreement only goes into effect if 55 nations sign on.

Because the US plan was termed an "executive agreement," the White House says Obama did not require Senate approval for ratification.

"I believe that history will judge today's efforts as pivotal," Obama said after he and Xi formally submitted their nations' plans.

In talks with Xi after the announcement, Obama raised areas over which Washington and Beijing remain firmly at odds, including over the rising Asian power's territorial grabs in the South China Sea, its engagement in cyber warfare, a monetary policy often unwelcome in the West and longstanding concerns over human rights abuses.

"We will have candid conversations about some of those differences, issues like human rights, or cyber, or maritime," Obama said. "I am absolutely committed to ensuring not only that this is a productive meeting but that we are also setting the stage so that the next US administration comes in with a relationship that is on a strong and productive footing."

Obama, who touched down in Hangzhou just after 2 p.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), is embarking on a final bout of delicate overseas diplomacy before his successor is elected in November. He arrived in Asia on Saturday for meetings with some of his most nettlesome counterparts.

A pomp-filled arrival ceremony on the airport's tarmac was marred, however, by scuffles between US officials and Chinese security, who attempted to keep members of the media and some senior Obama aides away from the US President.

"This is our country. This is our airport," one Chinese official insisted when US presidential aides said that American reporters were allowed to view Obama's arrival. Officials also briefly attempted to block US National Security Adviser Susan Rice from moving toward the President.

The confrontation lasted only moments before the US delegation sped away toward the city center.

It was likely just the first tense moment on a trip rife with tension for Obama, who, during his final presidential trip to Asia, is taking a final stab at face-to-face negotiations to resolve simmering disputes.

Obama's aides insist China is a success story for the administration but acknowledge the persistent differences between the countries. They said those divergences would be covered in Obama's talks with Xi, as they have been for the past several years.

"Part of what I've tried to communicate to President Xi is that the United States arrives at its power, in part, by restraining itself," Obama told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview ahead of the Asia trip, previewing his message.

"So where we see them violating international rules and norms, as we have seen in some cases in the South China Sea or in some of their behavior when it comes to economic policy, we've been very firm," he added. "And we've indicated to them that there will be consequences."

"Our relationship with China ... defies easy and simple definitions," said Daniel Kritenbrink, Obama's senior director for Asian affairs. "We recognize and are comfortable with the fact that there exists a broad range of tensions in the US-China relationship. We don't shy away from that tension."

For Obama, this week's trip to China and Laos is one of his last opportunities to shape American foreign policy before other leaders adapt their approach to the US based on the next president. He hopes to make a closing argument in some of his most fraught relationships before the business of state is handed off.

Aside from Xi, Obama planned formal meetings with the leaders of Turkey and the Philippines amid new disagreements.

Deep divides over Syria have also marred Obama's relationship with Putin, adding to a litany of discord between the US and Russia that's driven relations to their lowest level since the Cold War.

It's a final attempt to salvage what's become one of the most acrimonious relationships on the global stage. Putin's persistent support for the Syrian regime, Moscow's moves in Ukraine and the charge that Russia may be meddling in the US presidential contest have built a deeply antagonistic dynamic between the two leaders.

Obama has worked hard to develop the Philippines' partnership with the US and its role as a regional counterbalance to China. He's visited the country twice in his second term, and announced on a stop there in November the return of a US military presence at a critical naval base on the South China Sea.

But Duterte's derogatory comments and a spike in extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers put the relationship in stormier waters.

Obama is expected to complete one more foreign swing as President, traveling to Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November and likely making additional stops in a presidential farewell tour.

But that trip is scheduled after the presidential election, meaning his stops in China and Laos this week will be his final chance to interact with world leaders before either Trump or Hillary Clinton make him a lame duck.

Obama is planning to meet British Prime Minister Theresa May for the first time since she replaced his stalwart partner David Cameron. The consequences of the Brexit vote were likely to arise in the summit's various economic sessions.

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