(CNN) After more than five years of touting "birther" conspiracy theories, Donald Trump on Friday finally conceded a simple truth: "President Barack Obama was born in the United States." He did not apologize or speak to his own role in spreading the falsehood, which many people see as an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of America's first black president. Instead, Trump offered a curt admission tainted by yet another demonstrably false charge: that Hillary Clinton and her 2008 primary campaign "started" the racially charged smear. Both FactCheck.org (working with CNN's Jake Tapper) and PolitiFact have refuted the suggestion on multiple occasions. But the revisionist telling that Clinton was somehow involved persists, thanks in large part to Trump. He has peddled it for years and is now promoting it to deflect attention from his own leading role in advancing the lie.Trump offered a curt admission tainted by yet another demonstrably false chargeHere's a look at the underlying disputes
The campaign also responded in 2008 to allegations, made by Matt Drudge, that "stressed Clinton staffers" were circulating a photo of _ wearing a turban with a blanket denunciation. During their primary battle and shortly thereafter, before _ nominated her to be secretary of state, Hillary Clinton mostly faced questions about Obama's faith. During their primary battle and shortly thereafter, before Obama nominated her to be secretary of state, _ mostly faced questions about Obama's faith. The same survey found that 61% of _'s own supporters did not subscribe to birther rumors, so the campaign likely considered that it had more to gain than to lose by dropping this as a wedge issue in his race against Clinton.