Donald Trump Obama announcement: Trump will give $5 million to charity if Obama releases records

Donald Trump Obama announcement: Trump will give $5 million to charity if Obama releases records



By KATIE GLUECK and BOBBY CERVANTES | 10/24/12 10:26 AM EDT Updated: 10/24/12 10:39 PM EDT

Donald Trump said on Wednesday that if President Obama releases his college records and his passport application, the mega-millionaire developer will give a $5 million check to charities of Obama’s choosing.

Trump tweeted a video of himself in which he offers Obama a “deal that I don’t believe he can refuse, and I hope he doesn’t.”

The records must be turned over by Oct. 31 by 5 p.m., and the check will be made within an hour after the records are released, Trump said.

“President Obama is the least transparent president in the history of this country. There’s never been anything like it,” Trump said in the video, taking credit for getting Obama to release his longform birth certificate “or whatever it may be.”

“If he releases these records, it will end the question and indeed the anger of many Americans. They’ll know something about their president. Their president will become transparent, like other presidents,” he said. “I absolutely would be the most happy of all if I did in fact make this contribution through the president to these charities.

White House senior adviser David Plouffe said in response, “Direct those questions to Boston because Donald Trump is Mitt Romney’s biggest supporter, so he owns everything he says.”

About about an hour after his video was made public, Trump tweeted, “The response has been fantastic — actually overwhelming! Thank you!” Trump, who flirted with a presidential run before endorsing Mitt Romney, said on Facebook later Wednesday afternoon that former presidents of both parties have released the requested records.

Read Trump’s full statement here.

Without any evidence, conservatives have attacked the president’s time at Columbia University for years, alleging there must something suspicious in his college records.

Building suspense for his noon announcement, Trump tweeted earlier Wednesday morning that “all predictions” regarding the bombshell he’s promised to drop about President Barack Obama are “totally incorrect” - and he was right about that.

Speculation had been swirling for days regarding what Trump would say.

Paddy Power, a European betting house, was accepting wagers on various possibilities. On Wednesday, according to the site, the odds were 4/6 that Trump’s announcement would be that “Barack and Michelle have started divorce proceedings.” Another option: that there was “evidence of illegal drug use by Obama,” a bet that had 3/1 odds. The line that Trump will claim that “Obama is not an American” was 7/2, while a day earlier, those odds were 2/5.

Longer-odd options include: “Obama is an alien” (100/1), “Obama to host…’The Apprentice’ if Romney takes the White House” (250/1) and the nebulous category “Trump ‘I’m your father Obama,’” with odds clocking in at 500/1.

Alan Smithee wrote:Trump is a shameless self promoter. As soon as people hear his name they need to change the channel. Even that toupee looks like it's trying to jump off his head.

At one point, the Congressional Research Service – an arm of the Library of Congress that is supposed to provide authoritative but impartial research for elected members – advised that its analysts agreed with George Romney, according to a congressional source.

In a paper in November aimed at clarifying presidential eligibility, the Congressional Research Service declared that the practical, legal meaning of "natural born citizen" would "most likely include" not only anyone born on U.S. soil but anyone born overseas of at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen.

Alan Smithee wrote: Birthers...shut the fuck up already.

Forgiveness Man wrote:Obama does always want more money from the rich. Might as well take advantage of the kook and make a little dough.

captainbryce wrote: That didn't even make any sense!

Minerva wrote:I do not believe there are any more records to release and Trump knows it. He is an obsessive insane jerk. I can just see him maybe ten years or so from now in a room all by himself with long finger nails, not having bathed, with a long beard and muttering "birth certficate, birth certificate."

Marc™ wrote:Trump is a nutcase and a stalker.

Nystyle709 wrote:

Basically. And to think I actually had some respect for him at one point.

Bluesmama wrote:Well, okay. But my question is ~ why would Trump think that Obama would give a shit about charity???