Trump birther event blasted as hotel 'infomercial'
It was billed as Donald Trump's "major statement" on the birther movement, but for the most part it seemed more an "infomercial" for his new Washington hotel, according to the assessment of many on Twitter, particularly reporters.
The GOP presidential nominee's dominant presence on cable news channels has been a widely discussed phenomenon since his campaign's launch, but rarely has it sparked such outrage as it did Friday — both at Trump and the media.
After the real estate mogul took the stage at the event held in the newly opened Trump International Hotel in Washington, Trump began with an acknowledgement of the venue.
Trump finally says Obama born in U.S., blames Clinton for controversy
"Nice hotel," he said to a few chuckles and applause, as news networks broadcast the event live and journalists awaited word on whether the GOP presidential nominee would renounce his previous claims that President Obama was not born in the United States.
"Under budget and ahead of schedule," he continued. "Isn't that nice?"
But that was hardly the end, as Trump went on to discuss details on the hotel's opening ceremony and acknowledged the Medal of Honor recipients standing behind him, before discussing the hotel a bit more.
"I think it may be one of the great hotels anywhere in the world," he said.
Cue Twitter:
After talking a bit more about the veterans standing behind him — "I love leaders," he noted at one point — he turned the microphone over to them.
The collection of distinguished veterans extolled the virtues of the candidate standing behind them — "Mr. Trump, thank God for you," to cite one example — as the cameras rolled and Trump stood nearby. It was the kind of imagery candidates often pay to have broadcast. Meanwhile, there was no indication at all that discussion of the birther issue was anywhere in sight.
Finally, after more than 20 minutes, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC cut away from the Trump event.
CNN's Jake Tapper had this take on air: "It's hard to imagine this is anything other than a political rick roll."
He added: "It was very clever on one level. On another level, it does speak to the integrity of the Trump campaign."
Eventually, after a series of speakers, the candidate returned to the microphone to address the matter at hand. After blaming Hillary Clinton and her 2008 campaign for first giving rise to the birther conspiracy theory — multiple news organizations have found no evidence to support this argument — and following his claim that he "finished it," Trump said: "Barack Obama was born in the United States, period."
No, Hillary Clinton did not start the 'birther' movement
Later, after the Trump campaign made clear it would only allow photographers to film the candidate as he toured his hotel following the birther statement — a producer was prevented from accompanying — Politico reported that the candidate's broadcast press pool opted to erase the footage in protest and withdraw the camera.