White House Releases Obama's Birth Certificate

The White House released President Barack Obamas long-form birth certificate on Wednesday morning after receiving pressure from many conservatives and Republicans -- including possible presidential candidate Donald Trump.

When any citizen born in Hawaii requests their birth certificate, they receive exactly what the president received, noted Dan Pfeiffer of the White House staff. In fact, the document posted on the campaign website is what Hawaiians use to get a drivers license from the state and the document recognized by the federal government and the courts for all legal purposes. Thats because it is the birth certificate. This is not and should not be an open question.

The president believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasnt good for the country, added Pfeiffer. It may have been good politics and good TV, but it was bad for the American people and distracting from the many challenges we face as a country. Therefore, the president directed his counsel to review the legal authority for seeking access to the long-form certificate and to request on that basis that the Hawaii state Department of Health make an exception to release a copy of his long-form birth certificate. They granted that exception in part because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting.