Donald Trump said Monday that he kept up the birther issue with President Barack Obama because African Americans "wanted me to come to that conclusion."
"I was able to get him to produce it," the Republican nominee said at the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. "He should have produced it a long time before.
"I feel that they really wanted me to come to that conclusion," Trump said.
President Obama released his full Hawaii birth certificate a month after Trump raised the birther issue in 2011, but he continued the issue over the years.
Earlier this month, Trump said that "President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period."
"I think I did a great job and a great service, not only for the country, but even for the president in getting him to produce his birth certificate," Trump told moderator Lester Holt on Monday.
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