NEW YORK (AP) – Donald Trump’s renouncement of birtherism on Friday came with some media gamesmanship that compelled television news networks to air 20 minutes of endorsements by retired military men before the candidate briefly got to the point.
“We all got Rick-rolled,” said CNN’s Jake Tapper, a reference to the Internet prank of replacing an expected link with a video of singer Rick Astley’s 1987 hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
The bad blood continued after the event when the Trump campaign barred text reporters and a television producer from joining him on a tour of the new Trump International Hotel in Washington. In response, cable and broadcast networks refused to use any video of the tour.
Trump’s long-expressed doubts that President Obama was born in the United States – despite a birth certificate proving Obama’s eligibility for the presidency – resurfaced with a Washington Post interview on Thursday where Trump would not say whether or not he believed the president was born in Hawaii in 1961.
With criticism of his birther movement starting anew, Trump’s campaign signaled that the candidate would address the issue Friday at a Washington event. When Trump stepped to the podium at 11:04 a.m. EDT, he was carried live on CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC.