US Election 2016: Trump campaign acknowledges Obama was born in US

Mr Trump has frequently questioned Mr Obama's citizenship in the past (Getty Image)

The Trump campaign has acknowledged in a statement that President Obama was born in the US.

But the Republican candidate, who led the "birther" movement that questioned Hawaii-born Mr Obama's citizenship, has refused to say it himself.

His campaign now accuses his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of introducing the "smear" during the 2008 Democratic nomination contest.

There is no evidence to link Mrs Clinton to the birthers.

In reaction she tweeted that President Obama's successor "cannot and will not be the man who led the racist birther movement".

The BBC's North America reporter Anthony Zurcher says the statement signed by senior Trump advisor Jason Miller is far from an admission of error.

Instead, our correspondent says, Mr Miller laid the genesis of the birther rumours wrongfully at the feet of Hillary Clinton and her 2008 presidential campaign team.

When her team raised questions, Mr Miller said, it was "vicious and conniving" behaviour. By broaching the topic three years later, Mr Trump had done a "great service" to the public and president, Mr Miller said.

The statement follows an interview with the Washington Post newspaper in which Mr Trump had declined to say Mr Obama had been born in the US, saying instead that he did not want to answer the question.

What is the origin of the 'birther' claim?

The claim is a conspiracy theory that Mr Obama was actually born in Kenya and is therefore ineligible to be president.

Reports in various US publications suggest it was circulated in 2008 by die-hard supporters of Mrs Clinton as it became clear that she was not going to win the Democratic nomination.

However there is no evidence that Mrs Clinton or her then campaign had anything to do with it.

The claim enjoyed a revival with some supporters of Republican candidate John McCain as he fell behind Mr Obama in polls, the Fact Check website reported.

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When did Mr Trump get involved?

@REALDONALDTRUMP

The billionaire became a vocal questioner of Mr Obama's citizenship as he was running for a second term as president.

In April 2011, Mr Trump challenged Mr Obama to show his birth certificate, gaining approval from Republicans including former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

Weeks later Mr Obama released his actual birth certificate from his native state of Hawaii. At that year's White House correspondents dinner, Mr Obama made light of the allegations, mocking Donald Trump.

The 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney referred to the discredited theory at a campaign rally in August that year, joking that no-one had asked to see his birth certificate - drawing swift condemnation from the Obama campaign.