Trump birth certificate: asked and answered

By Thomas Lifson

Media efforts to ridicule Donald Trump's questions about President Obama's birth certificate have backfired. JournOlist member Ben Smith of Politico ridiculed Trump's release of the birth certificate issued by the hospital where he was born:

The paper that Trump released says "Jamaica Hospital" on top and lists the date and time of what he says was his birth to "Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Trump." The piece of paper has a seal at the bottom.

But after several New York City-based readers contacted POLITICO's Maggie Haberman, her call to city officials revealed that an actual birth certificate, which is issued by the Department of Health, would have the agency's seal and also a signature of the city registrar - neither of which the Trump document has. Officials said the city Health Department is the "sole issuing authority" of official birth certificates in New York, and that the document would clearly say so, and "city officials said it's not an official document."

The Smoking Gun ridiculed Trump, asking, "What Is Donald Trump, Newborn Birther, Trying To Hide From Us? But Trump is having the last laugh, issuing the official New York City version of his birth certificate, telling Newsmax:

"It took me one hour to get my birth certificate. It's inconceivable that, after four years of questioning, the president still hasn't produced his birth certificate. I'm just asking President Obama to show the public his birth certificate. Why's he making an issue out of this?"

This issue isn't going away, no matter what tricks Obama partisans in the media deploy, because at its base, it is a matter of transparency (and lack thereof). Why should the American public be denied access to basic documentation, including birth records, college records, and the like, that would be required for any job applicant aspiring to a responsible position? The Obama lickspittles in the media have no good answer.