DONALD TRUMP sits down with GEORGE STEPHANOPOLUS as ABC puts media mogul Presidential candidate on the hot seat.
Hottest topic? The Donald’s quest for answers in the Obama birther mystery.
During the nine minute GMA interview, Stephanopoulos pressed Trump 16 straight times on the “birther” dilemma.
The ABC tyro demanded of the Celebrity Apprentice kingpin, "You said that you sent investigators to Hawaii and you said quote, 'They cannot believe what they're finding.' What have they found?"
Partial transcript below:
DONALD TRUMP: There’s a real question about the birth certificate. There’s a real question about the- his own- his own citizenship.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: There- there is- there is no question. He's got a certificate of live birth that is recognized by the State Department.
TRUMP: George, George, I know exactly what you're getting at.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The facts!
TRUMP: But for some reason- no, they’re not the facts. He doesn’t have a birth certificate or he hasn’t provided. He’s given a certificate of live birth. It’s a much different instrument.
STEPHANOPOULOS: A certificate of live birth meets the standard in the State Department for anyone's citizenship.
TRUMP: George-
STEPHANOPOULOS: There were contemporaneous reports in two newspapers.
TRUMP: George, they have co-opted you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Given the- no, those are the facts sir.
TRUMP: George, they’ve co-opted you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Who’s they?
TRUMP: It’s not- obviously, Obama and his minions. They have co-opted you. A certificate of live birth is not the same thing by any stretch of the imagination as a birth certificate.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It’s what the State Department recognizes as the standard birth certificate. In 1961, two Honolulu newspapers.
TRUMP: Let him show the birth certificate. And by the way, this is not, this is not a big focus of my campaign.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You don’t believe it’s why you’ve gone to the top of the polls?
TRUMP: My big focus is China and OPEC and all of these countries that are just absolutely destroying the United States. This is not a big focus.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What have they done?
TRUMP: We're going to see what happens.
STEPHANOPOULOS: When?
TRUMP: George, next question, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You refuse to accept that the President was born in the United States.
TRUMP: I hope he was.
I’m not looking– if I should run and if I decide to go. And I end up getting the nomination, I don’t want to use this as an issue.
I hope that by that time it’s totally solved.
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