As promised, Donald Trump made his “big announcement” this afternoon at 12 p.m.
The business mogul revived the birther conspiracies by offering President Barack Obama $5 million to release his college application and passport records.
Trump starts off the less than 3 minute video by calling President Obama “the least transparent president in the history of this country.”
theGrio: Obama cracks birther joke
“I have a deal for the president. A deal that I don’t believe that he can refuse and I hope he doesn’t,” said Trump. “If Barack Obama opens up and gives his college records and applications, and if he gives his passport applications and records, I will give to a charity of his choice.”
He named off choices like inner city children in Chicago, the American Cancer Society and AIDS research, promising to write a check within an hour of the president releasing documents “to my satisfaction.” He’s given the President the deadline of October 31st at 5 p.m..
“A lot of people will be very, very happy to see this happen,” Trump continued. “Frankly, it’s a check that I very much want to write. I absolutely would be the most happy of all if I did, in fact, make this contribution through the president to these charities.”
Trump first appeared on Fox & Friends Monday morning to share that he would be making a big announcement regarding President Obama. He told the hosts, “It’s very big. Bigger than anybody would know.”
Rumors quickly began circulating about the content of the announcement, the most popular being that Trump had uncovered divorce papers filed by First Lady Michelle Obama in 2000.
Trump denied the rumor on his Twitter earlier today saying, “All predictions re: my 12 o’clock release are totally incorrect. Stay tuned!”
“Mr. President, not only will I be happy and, by the way, totally satisfied,” Trump says at the end of his video. “But the American people will be happy. And you know what? Those charities will be very, very happy. Thank you, Mr. President.”
Follow Ugonna on Twitter at @ugonnaokpalaoka