![\"Larry](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sidney_blumenthal_2006-640x480.jpg\")
<\/a>Larry D. Moore CC BY-SA 3.0.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
New evidence is emerging\u00a0that Hillary Clinton\u2019s\u00a0campaign was, in fact, responsible for spreading the original Birther conspiracy theory in 2008, which alleged that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and therefore potentially ineligible for the presidency.<\/h2>\n
Though Hillary Clinton \u2014 and the media \u2014 furiously denied that charge after it was made by Republican nominee Donald Trump on Friday morning, editor James Asher remembered Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal spreading the rumor.
\nAsher, the former Washington, D.C. bureau chief for McClatchy, tweeted on Thursday evening in response to Hillary Clinton:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/twitter.com\/jimasher\/status\/776633213015982080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/p>\n
He also tweeted that Blumenthal had personally shopped the Birther story to him \u2014 in person \u2014 in 2008:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/twitter.com\/jimasher\/status\/776612456135262212?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/p>\n
Blumenthal\u2019s tactics in the 2008 campaign, on this and other issues, were so toxic that the Obama administration rejected any appointment for him in Hillary Clinton\u2019s\u00a0State Department. (Nevertheless, she continued to retain Blumenthal as an adviser,\u00a0exchanging classified information and intelligence with\u00a0him on Libya, the terror attacks in Benghazi, and other\u00a0topics.)<\/p>\n
Some journalists continue to defend Clinton. Mark Murray, senior political editor for NBC News, said Friday that the fact that \u201csomeone\u201d \u2014 i.e. Blumenthal \u2014 shopped the Birther story around was not, by itself, proof the Clinton campaign \u201cstarted\u201d it:<\/p>\n
\nIf someone shopped the story — and no media outlet ran with it — is that really "starting" it? Not how I see it. https:\/\/t.co\/ZUL42Luna8<\/a><\/p>\n
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) September 16, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n