Welcome to McClatchy’s Voter Survival Guide, an interactive presentation of daily events from one of the strangest presidential campaigns in modern history.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton respond to an explosion in New York. Birtherism is back in the news again after Donald Trump finally admits Barack Obama was born in the United States and reports come out that a Hillary Clinton supporter helped share the false claim back in 2008. Barack Obama jokes he’s “relieved it’s finally over.”
Meanwhile, an “in between jobs” Jeb Bush goes on the Emmy Awards, where he finally caught up with the rest of us in making jokes about his failed presidential campaign.
Welcome to another week in the 2016 election. The polls open nationally in 49 days. Let’s get started.
Trump and Clinton respond to NYC bombing
An bomb exploded in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan Saturday night injuring 29 people. A second bomb failed to detonate. Both explosives were filled with shrapnel.
Donald Trump immediately described the explosion as a bomb before authorities had fully assessed what happened. “I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly what's going on. But boy, we are living in a time - we better get very tough, folks,” he said.
Hillary Clinton reacted to the event by saying “Obviously we need to do everything we can to support our first responders. Also to pray for the victims. We have to let this investigation unfold. We've been in touch with various officials including the mayor's office in New York to learn what they are discovering as they conduct this investigation and I'll have more to say about it when we actually know some facts.”
When asked about Trump’s comments, Clinton responded “I think it's always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions.”
Trump doesn’t acknowledge past birther statements
The media was primed for a “major announcement” by Donald Trump Friday morning, with TV cameras and reporters waiting for Trump to denounce his previous “birther” statements. What they got was a slew of endorsements from veterans and Trump promoting his new hotel. But he barely addressed the hot-button topic of Obama’s birth and did not take questions from reporters.
“President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period," Trump said. "Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again."
He also accused Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign for spreading the idea that Obama was born in Kenya.
Clinton addressed the issue earlier on Friday.
"For five years, he has led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president," Clinton said at an event in Washington. "His campaign was founded on this outrageous lie."
For five years, he has led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president
Hillary Clinton on Donald Trump
Did Clinton supporter Sydney Blumenthal play a part in spreading birtherism?
Former McClatchy Washington Bureau Chief James Asher jumped in the birtherism fray Friday as well, tweeting that longtime Hillary Clinton supporter Sydney Blumenthal shared the false claim about Barack Obama’s birth place back in 2008.
“Mr. Blumenthal and I met together in my office and he strongly urged me to investigate the exact place of President Obama’s birth, which he suggested was in Kenya. We assigned a reporter to go to Kenya, and that reporter determined that the allegation was false,” he said.