[Anderson Cooper, Cnn Anchor:] Tonight, with the birther battle building and Donald Trump escalating his unsubstantiated claims about President Obama, we continue our exclusive investigations into President Obama's birth and the false conspiracy theories surrounding it. You're going to hear more from Donald Trump directly tonight, my interview with him, refuting his claims with facts point by point, "Keeping Them Honest". Trump taking it up yet another notch, telling the Associated Press now he's now suspicious of the President's academic record. As with the birther claims, he's long on insinuation and allegation, short on proof. In fact, he has no proof on this one. We on the other hand have sent a team to Hawaii. They spent five days interviewing and talking with dozens of people, including the former director of Hawaii's Department of Health, a Republican who actually looked at Barack Obama's original 1961 birth certificate in storage at the Health Department. Listen.
[Gary Tuchman, Cnn National Correspondent:] Did you see Barack Obama's original birth certificate?
[Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Former Director, Hawaii Department Of Health:] Yes.
[Tuchman:] And what did it tell you? Was it authentic? Was he born here in the state of Hawaii?
[Fukino:] It was absolutely authentic. He was absolutely born here in the state of Hawaii.
[Cooper:] Well, she's seen the very document the birthers, Donald Trump included, want President Obama to release, the so-called the long-form birth certificate, which is actually called the certificate of live birth in Hawaii. Now, they say this, the computer generated version, called the certification of live birth, is for some reason not enough, even though it's got an official stamped signature, an official seal and says on the front quote "This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding." In addition, that copy right there gets you a driver's license in Hawaii and most other states; it also gets you a U.S. passport. That is what the state of Hawaii sends to anybody requesting their birth certificate. Now, doubters, though, Donald Trump included, continue to say this certification of live birth doesn't carry the same weight as a copy of the original. What they don't know or maybe refuse to admit is this is the only form of birth certificate Hawaii now recognizes or hands out. We found that out by asking Hawaiian native Stig Vitalic to come with us to the Health Department to get a copy of his birth certificate.
[Tuchman:] I'm Gary Tuchman with CNN. We're here to get a birth certificate for Stig. [voice-over]: We asked Stig because we also saw his birth announcement in the Honolulu newspaper. In the same article, four names down, another newborn, born 13 hours earlier, Barack Obama. [on camera]: Now, do you give him his original three certificate or an electronic copy?
[Unidentified Female:] It's a computerized birth certificate.
[Cooper:] Now, notice the woman behind the counter even refers to the certification of live birth document as a computerized birth certificate. What's more, Gary discovered that Hawaii no longer even uses the old long-form document, the certificate of live birth, which is what they call it, for official purposes. You can still get one, but it involves making a special request through the Freedom of Information Act, and as Gary reported last night, the Health Department in Hawaii has gotten only one such request for that document in the past year. Donald Trump also claims that he's got investigators on the case in Hawaii. We challenged him to give specifics, to name even one person in Hawaii that they have allegedly talked to, he refused. He said it wouldn't be appropriate. In Hawaii, Gary Tuchman and producer Susan Chun asked the people they talked to whether they had also spoken or been approached by Trump investigators. None of them said they had seen or heard from anyone working for Trump.
[Tuchman:] Have you seen any sign of Donald Trump's investigators here in Hawaii trying to find out that there's no that he wasn't born here in Hawaii?
[Unidentified Female:] No, I haven't seen anybody.
[Tuchman:] Have you seen any sign of Donald Trump's investigators here?
[Unidentified Male:] No, I haven't seen them.
[Tuchman:] Have you seen any of Donald Trump's investigators?
[Unidentified Female:] No, not yet.
[Tuchman:] Donald Trump has said he is sending investigators to Hawaii. Have you seen any of the investigators yet?
[Unidentified Male:] Are they investigating his latest bankruptcy?
[Cooper:] Well, some other basics. The birth announcement placed in both Honolulu papers, contrary to birther claims, Gary found out they could not be placed by the family. Each and every birth notice only comes straight from the Health Department in Hawaii. As for why it took two weeks to actually have that birth announcement in, there's no conspiracy there either. The Honolulu advertiser today telling our producer Susan Chun the announcements run every Sunday. The President was born on a Friday and that combined with a backlog of births that week delayed the processing of it. Every other child, by the way, born that Friday also had their birth announcement delayed. That's neither enough for Donald Trump, nor others in the movement. More with Mr. Trump in a moment. We begin, though, with more firsthand facts from 360's Gary Tuchman in Hawaii.
[Tuchman:] "The Honolulu Star Bulletin" newspaper in August 1961 announces not only the birth of Barack Obama, but also where the family lived. [on camera]: The address on the birth announcement is in the eastern part of Honolulu. A half century later, the property is in great shape. There's a yellow house and a bungalow behind it. And they're owned by registered Republicans. [voice-over]: Rick and Nani Smethurst say they voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008, but were pleased when they found out the history of their home.
[Rick Smethurst, Hawaii:] It gives me a little bit of pride. And as you came in, you can see we were obviously painting and taking care of it and sprucing it up a little bit.
[Tuchman:] Interestingly, though, Rick Smethurst is not ready to say Barack Obama was definitely born in Hawaii. Like many Americans, he's unsure. The only way to be sure he and others say would be to find someone who saw Barack Obama immediately after he was born. So, you saw him when he was an infant?
[Rep. Neil Abercrombie , Hawaii:] Oh, sure, of course.
[Tuchman:] Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie says he met the future president soon after he was born, because he was close to both of Barack Obama's parents. He remembers his mother, Ann Dunham, living in Hawaii and pregnant and remembers celebrating the birth with his friends, the Obamas.
[Abercrombie:] His mom and dad went to school with me here, and with other folks here in Hawaii. And of course, we had no idea at the time that the future president of the United States was that little boy, that little baby, and we were very, very happy, of course, that that took place.
[Tuchman:] At the University of Hawaii, where the Democratic governor and the President's parents went to school, Professor Alice Dewey has taught for almost a half century. She was a faculty adviser to President Obama's mother and met her son as a child, whom she knows as Barry. She remembers Ann Dunham talking about giving birth to her daughter, Maya, Barack's sister, who was indeed born outside the United States.
[Alice Dewey, University Of Hawaii:] She said, you know, when I had Maya, it was we were a lot more difficult, because Indonesia doesn't believe in painkillers while you're giving birth. And of course, in the United States, giving birth to Barry was quite quite different and much more comfortable.
[Tuchman:] Then there is this woman. [on camera]: What's your son's name?
[Unidentified Female:] Stig John Vitalic.
[Tuchman:] Stig was one of the babies listed in the newspaper the same day as Barack Obama. And his mother has a unique memory from 1961, from looking at all the newborns in Honolulu's Kapi'olani Medical Center. [on camera]: Do you think you have seen Barack Obama before in person?
[Unidentified Female:] As a baby, yes.
[Tuchman:] Next to your son in the nursery?
[Unidentified Female:] Yes.
[Tuchman:] You're pretty sure about that?
[Unidentified Female:] Yes. In Hawaii in those days, there were hardly ever any black people.
[Tuchman:] We asked hospital officials about that, but they would not give out any patient records. But back in 1961, Hawaii's African-American population was less than one percent. [on camera]: When was your son born?
[Unidentified Female:] He was born August 5th, 1961.
[Tuchman:] This is the birth certificate of Monica's son. It's the exact same type of document that Barack Obama has made public. It's the same computer-generated version that every Hawaiian now gets when they need a birth certificate. The original long-form documents are kept in a vault in this building and are no longer certified for official usage according to the state Health Department. But the former director of that Health Department felt it was her duty to see Barack Obama's original birth certificate. [on camera]: Do you know, has anyone else looked at the certificate?
[Fukino:] The registrar has actually seen it as well.
[Tuchman:] The registrar is someone in your
[Fukino:] Alvin Onaka, he is the chief registrar for the state, and he has he is the one that took me to see the documents.
[Tuchman:] And you are a registered Republican?
[Fukino:] At the present time, yes, I am.
[Tuchman:] And worked for a Republican governor?
[Fukino:] Yes, I did.
[Tuchman:] And you still say that the birth certificate of this Democratic president is authentic?
[Fukino:] Absolutely.
[Tuchman:] Does it anger you that this has become such a controversy and has taken attention away from issues that are important to you?
[Fukino:] No. I find it a bit amusing, in the sense that it keeps resurfacing and over and over again, despite whatever I say. And it really tells us that the whole conspiracy notion out there that if there's an issue that needs to have a following, it will find one.
[Tuchman:] The current governor agrees.
[Abercrombie:] Obviously, I'm going to do what is legally possible.
[Tuchman:] So much so that when he came into office, the Democrat announced he would release the birth certificate and put the controversy to rest. But he didn't. And that's fueled another part of the conspiracy, that he learned something that would hurt the President and his family, so he kept the original document locked away. But that part of the conspiracy theory is not true either. He didn't release it because he couldn't. Hawaii state law only allows non- family members with a direct and tangible interest to look at birth certificates, which the Health Department director had because she was in charge of the certificates. But the law does not allow any non-family member, not even the governor, to release someone else's birth certificate.
[Abercrombie:] And I would just like to ask people who who have this political orientation towards the President, respect us here in Hawaii. Respect his mother and father. Respect the people that I loved and the people that I knew and the little boy who grew up here in paradise and became president.
[Tuchman:] This is very emotional for you.
[Abercrombie:] Thank you. Yes, it's certainly; sure, it is.
[Tuchman:] It is emotional for many people. But emotions and conspiracy theories aside, facts are facts. And the fact is, according to all the evidence, Barack Obama was born just as the Honolulu newspaper announced it in August 1961. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Honolulu.
[Cooper:] All right. Well, look, part of the problem with conspiracy theories is that believers cling to them in spite of the facts. Or when the weight of the real evidence gets too heavy, they find something else to object to, they change the topic. Donald Trump is now shifting focus from the President's birth certificate to his academic record, telling the Associated Press quote "How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard? I'm thinking about it. I'm certainly looking into it. Let him show his records." The truth is, we don't know what kind of grades Mr. Obama got. College records are private. Schools aren't allowed to release them. And few, if any, modern presidential candidates have released their own grades. George W. Bush didn't, John McCain didn't, and Barack Obama didn't. Some candidates' college grades have been leaked. Now, in his memoir "Dreams from My Father," Mr. Obama admits he used drugs in high school and his grades suffered because of it. However, he worked his way through Occidental College, transferred to Columbia, and was accepted into Harvard Law School, where his fellow students elected him president of "The Law Review". And he graduated magna cum laude, which is a Latin term which means high honors, graduated in the top 10 percent of his class at the Harvard Law School. But Mr. Trump has doubts about the President's grades and especially his birth certificate. Here's part two of my interview with Trump, unedited, about the birth certificate.
[Donald Trump, Chairman & Ceo, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts:] The fact is, a lot of people are troubled with this, just like I am.
[Cooper:] Yes, but a lot of people believe 911 didn't happen, or
[Trump:] The governor says that he saw, the governor, the previous governor, said that he saw the birth certificate. Now they're saying, oh, it wasn't a birth certificate. It was a certificate of live birth. There was supposed to be a birth certificate. I don't think it exists, Anderson. I hope it exists, but I don't think it exists.
[Cooper:] But it wasn't previous the governor. It was the health director for the previous governor, who we've just interviewed on camera, says yes, she has actually seen it. And it doesn't say he's a Muslim. It doesn't say anything
[Trump:] Well, that's fine. Then you know what Obama should do? Instead of spending millions of dollars on lawyers, he should say it's ok to release my birth certificate. No, he should do that.
[Cooper:] You have said this millions in lawyers you have said this idea that he's spending millions of dollars on lawyers to refute this. And in other interviews, you have said he spent $2 million.
[Trump:] I have heard over $2 million.
[Cooper:] Right. All that is according to an FEC filing. But in truth, though, you
[Trump:] Well, that's a pretty big filing. I mean, he's not lying to the SEC or the
[Fec. Cooper:] But you have no idea what that money was spent on. No one does. You can't say he spent $2 million
[Trump:] Well, they say it was spent on lawyers trying to protect him.
[Cooper:] Right.
[Trump:] No, no, they say it was spent on lawyers trying to protect him from showing a birth certificate that may not exist.
[Cooper:] Well, that's not true. The FEC filing is about lawyers. Candidates spend a lot on winding down campaigns. He also has to defend against FEC investigations into campaign financing.
[Trump:] Look, he spent a lot of money, whether it was millions of dollars or hundreds of thousands, but I have a feeling it was millions. He spent a lot of money. Now, why should he waste money? He could do what I did just a month ago. I called in. I said, you're right, it's a private document. Thank you very much. You can release it. It is a private document, Anderson, but he can release it.
[Cooper:] All right. John McCain, has by the way, spent $1.3 million on legal fees according to "Roll Call" since the election. But you you repeatedly, though, in interviews say that there's no serial number on the live on the certificate of live birth.
[Trump:] No, what I say is the following, Anderson. What I say is it's a stamp signature, a stamp.
[Cooper:] Right.
[Trump:] It's not a signature; it's a stamp. Anybody can get a stamp. Anybody can make a stamp. But it's a stamp signature. But much more importantly, if you look at your birth certificate or my birth certificate, it's got details all over it, lots of details that you don't have on a certificate of live birth. A certificate of live birth, you can get over a telephone, Anderson. It's not the same thing.
[Cooper:] Well, we will have the final part of my interview with Donald Trump after the break. We just had to cut right here for time. But we haven't edited this interview at all. I asked him why, if he doesn't trust Hawaii's computerized birth record, he thinks he can trust Hawaii's long-form birth record. His answer ahead. Let us know what you think. We're on Facebook. You can follow me on Twitter @AndersonCooper. And later tonight, the shocking brutality in Syria, witnesses say troops are gunning down civilians and when other civilians try to go to pick up their loved ones' dead bodies, they got shot at as well. You're going to hear from an extraordinarily brave woman speaking out tonight at great risk to herself. She knows she can be arrested, tortured. But she doesn't want her fellow countrymen killed in silence, murdered in silence. Her bravery is inspiring. Let's also check in right now with Isha Sesay. She's in London where I'm heading in a few hours to cover the royal wedding, which is now three days away Isha.
[Isha Sesay, Cnn International Correspondent:] Anderson, preparations really picking up speed here. The VIPs start to arrive. See you right here tomorrow. Coming up tonight, a look at Princess Diana's enduring influence on her eldest son, and how she will have a presence in spirit at the wedding. Also, how Prince Charles gets along with his future daughter-in-law. That and more live from London when 360 continues.