White House Releases Obama's Birth Certificate

In a surprise move, White House press officials handed out long-form copies of President Obama’s birth certificate to a group of stunned reporters on Tuesday morning, who were expecting to hear news of a completely different variety.

A certified copy of the President’s original birth certificate was sealed and on display in the James Brady briefing room. TRNS’s Lovisa Frost was there, and reported that White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer held it up for reporters to see, and pointed to a raised seal. Frost emailed a brief account of what took place.

“We just got the long form 6-page handout of the birth certificate. In 2008, the wh released the shorter version that Obama used to get a driver’s license ect. Therefore, they’ve decided to release it in its entirety.
The original birth certificate is in the briefing room with a seal on it.”

Click here to view the original birth certificate.

Reporters were called to the briefing room this morning at 8:45 am ET for an off-camera gaggle with Press Secretary Jay Carney. Most were expecting Carney to offer insight into new reports that President Obama has decided to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates with current CIA Director Leon Panetta, and give Panetta’s job to Gen. David Petraeus, who currently serves as the Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Carney announced that the personnel announcement will be made tomorrow.

(Click here to read more on this from CNN)

President Obama addressed reporters briefly after the birth certificate copies had been distributed, and explained why the move was made.

“I know that there’s going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest,” he said. “But I’m speaking to the vast majority of the American people, as well as to the press. We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do.”

Rumored 2012 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has polled well recently, has emerged as a leader in the so-called “birther” movement, and his celebrity has generated buzz around the issue. Having become fed up with the increased media attention surrounding the story, Obama likely felt the need to put the issue to bed. Whether or not he has remains to be seen.

This story was updated at 10:30 am.

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