NewsMax: Donald Trump, who has been making television appearances calling for President Barack Obama to release his official birth documents, released his birth certificate exclusively to Newsmax on Monday.
As Ben Smith from Politico notes, this is not an official New York City birth certificate.
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."
It appears instead to be a hospital "certificate of birth," meaning the piece of paper the hospital gave to his family saying he was born. Such a document typically has the signature of the hospital administrator and the attending physician.
This is what official New York City birth certificates look like.
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| Short form |
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| Long Form |
The left will no doubt rush to ridicule Trump for not releasing his official birth certificate. Here is the rub, in ridiculing Trump, the left is actually making Trump's argument for him. If Trump quickly turns around and releases the long form of his birth certificate, what then will be the argument for Obama to continue hold up his? It will be very funny to watch those who will ridicule Trump now try to go back to saying that they type of birth certificate Obama released doesn't matter.
In the end, Trump will not run and will not be successful in getting Obama to release the long form of his birth certificate. However, Trump might very well succeed in diminishing the sting of the "birther" label.
Via: MemeorandumVia: Newsmax
Via: Ben Smith