Here goes.
2008: During the spring and summer of 2008, particularly around the most intense moments of the nomination fight, an anti-unity faction of Clinton supporters — but not the Clinton campaign, nor Clinton herself— floats rumors that then-Senator Barack Obama is “lying about his U.S citizenship.” In August 2008, self-avowed Clinton supporter Philip J. Berg of Pennsylvania files a lawsuit on the matter in federal court. At some point during all this, the Obama campaign releases his Hawaiian “Certificate of Live Birth” (the short-form certificate, not the long-form that would be released years later in response to Trump.)
Also around this time, a confidential strategy memo from consultant Mark Penn to then-Senator Hillary Clinton was leaked. In the memo, from March 2007 (shortly after both candidates had declared they were running), Penn advises Clinton to target Obama’s “lack of American roots.” Clinton does not go with this approach, for the most part, and it does not specifically mention any strategy of trying to question Obama’s place of birth.
There is, truth be told, a bumpy moment back in March 2008 where Clinton is asked in an interview if she believes the claims that Obama is secretly a Muslim. She coolly says
"You know, I take him on the basis of what he says, and, you know, there isn’t any reason to doubt that.”
And some Obama supporters angrily interpret this as a dog whistle wherein Clinton won’t exactly declare that she believes he’s not a Muslim, and her word choice here seems less than iron-clad. But that’s about as bad as it ever got, in the 2008 Democratic primary fight, in terms of how close Clinton came to attempting to “other-ize” Obama in the eyes of mainstream white American voters. There is no direct mention of Obama’s birthplace (US or otherwise) from Clinton herself, nor from any of her campaign staff or leading spokespeople/surrogates.
2009: Things quiet down on this issue; Obama is now President Obama, and the country is facing a frightening economic meltdown.
2010: Things remain quiet on this issue, relatively speaking. Right wing sites like WorldNetDaily still bark about it, and in December the Hawaii governor (Neil Abercrombie) expresses disgust and vows to end “the birther controversy.” At this point, Donald Trump is not publicly involved in this issue at all.
2011: The controversy bubbles up more strongly in January when Gov. Abercrombie of Hawaii says Obama’s long-form birth certificate “exists” but that he cannot produce it. More news stories percolate after this, and House Majority Leader John Boehner defensively sidesteps when asked, saying it’s “not my job to convince” skeptics on the GOP/conservative side. A Feb 2011 poll is released showing that 51% of GOP voters believe President Obama was not born in the US. On March 1, Mike Huckabee stokes it further, claiming Obama’s birthplace is an open and controversial question.
March 2011 is is when Donald Trump publicly and loudly barrels in on the issue. Trump actually gives a hint of it back in Feb 2011, when he gives a surprise speech at CPAC in which he tells the rightwing audience:
“Our current President came out of nowhere. Came out of nowhere. In fact, I’ll go a step further. The people that went to school with him never saw him; they don’t know who he is. Crazy.”
Then on Good Morning America, early March, Trump goes further:
“He grew up and nobody knew him. You know? When you interview people, if ever I got the nomination, if I ever decide to run, you may go back and interview people from my kindergarten. They’ll remember me,” he said. “Nobody ever comes forward. Nobody knows who he his until later in his life. It’s very strange. The whole thing is very strange.”
Then in late March, Trump busts out as Leader of the Birthers. He releases his own birth certificate to NewsMax (extreme-right-wing news site). He goes on Fox News and attacks President Obama further:
"This guy either has a birth certificate or he doesn't," Trump said in an interview on Fox News Monday. "I didn't think this was such a big deal, but I will tell you, it's turning out to be a very big deal because people now are calling me from all over saying please don't give up on this issue."
In that same interview Trump also calls for an investigation into Hawaiian Gov. Neil Abercrombie. Trump also “goes there” re: Obama and birtherism in several other interviews, most notably ABC News and ABC’s “The View.” There are related rumors that Trump is considering jumping into the 2012 presidential race, and is using this issue as a way of grabbing attention as a challenger to President Obama.
In April 2011, Trump amps it up further, claiming Obama’s own grandmother said Obama was born in Kenya, and claiming he will soon reveal more “interesting things” about Obama’s place of birth. No further things are revealed, but Trump claims he has sent private investigators into Hawaii to nail Obama, and claims they will reveal “one of the greatest cons in the history of politics and beyond” and that “they cannot believe what they are finding.”*
*NOTE: Trump should now be asked about those untrue statements he made to the media in April 2011.
On April 27, a digital copy of Obama’s long-form birth certificate is released to the US media. Media accepts it; Birthers and Trump choose to call it a fraud.
May 2011, President Obama takes delicious revenge on Trump, live, at the White House Correspondents Dinner… ridiculing Trump’s birtherism obsession. Trump is visibly fuming.
In late May, Trump carries on, continuing to yell to anyone in the US media who’ll listen that Obama’s long form birth certificate is fake.
Finally in Summer 2011 Trump begins to quiet down, apparently defeated on this issue. And definitely humiliated at the WH Dinner.
2012: Trump rebounds like a horror-flick zombie in October 2012, offering to give $5M to charity if President Obama will release his US passport, various undergraduate college records, and more. Obama of course ignores this. Trump claims this is proof of Obama’s foreign birth. On November 1, Trump takes the $5M offer off the table, announcing “the deadline has expired.”
There’s more minor bits to add to the story in 2013, 2014, 2015… but they are minor. The above is the gist.
The key points being:
It is clear from the above. Trump IS birtherism as we know it, and birtherism IS Trump; he waged a hard-fought publicity campaign in 2011-2012 to make it so.
Clinton has no direct connection to any of this, whatsoever, and she never has.
Trump is lying today, and that’s an understatement. He’s taking lying to an obscene, absurd level. As he does about so many things.
Thanks for reading.