Via McClatchyDC.com’s David Goldstein<\/em><\/a>,<\/p>\n It\u2019s still one person\u2019s word against another. While emails show that Hillary Clinton confidant Sid Blumenthal did share story tips about Barack Obama with McClatchy\u2019s former bureau chief James Asher, the emails aren\u2019t conclusive that Blumenthal was the source of the \u201cbirther\u201d tip.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Asher says he recalls the conversation clearly, and a former McClatchy reporter recalls being asked to check out the birther rumors. Blumenthal denies it all.<\/strong><\/p>\n The issue came to light Friday when Donald Trump accused Clinton of starting the \u201cbirther\u201d conspiracy story, which alleged Obama was born in Kenya, when the two were competing for the 2008 Democratic nomination. The Clinton campaign has denied any role in the birther conspiracy.<\/strong> The campaign did fire one aide who talked about the issue in an email. Several fact checks have debunked Clinton\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n Trump championed the birther issue for years. Only last Friday did he acknowledge that Obama was born in the United States.<\/p>\n Asher said Friday <\/a>and repeated on Monday that Blumenthal did spread the story to him, and that he assigned a reporter to check it out. Blumenthal, who did not have a formal role in the campaign in 2008, denies Asher\u2019s account. <\/strong><\/p>\n Shashank Bengali, who was the McClatchy bureau chief in Nairobi in 2008, confirmed Monday that Asher asked him to look into Obama\u2019s background.<\/strong><\/p>\n He said he did report on several tips as well as the false rumor <\/a>that Obama was born there, and not in Hawaii. Candidates for president must be native born.<\/p>\n \u201cJim asked me to look into Obama\u2019s ties to Kenya and sent a number of tips to check out and one of the things I looked into was the unfounded rumor that Obama was born in Kenya,<\/strong><\/em>\u201d Bengali said, speaking from Afghanistan where he was on assignment for the Los Angeles Times, where he now works.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have any specific knowledge where that tip would have come from. Jim\u2019s instructions were just to look at everything.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n McClatchy has not been able to reach Blumenthal for comment. He worked for both President Bill Clinton and more recently for the Clintons\u2019 charitable foundation.<\/p>\n He told Fox News on Saturday: \u201cThis is false. Never happened. Period. Donald Trump cannot distract from the inescapable fact that he is the one who embraced and promoted the racist birther lie and bears the responsibility for it.\u201d <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/user3303\/imageroot\/2016\/09\/15\/20160920_birther.jpg\")
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