Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry backtracked on earlier comments aimed at questioning the validity of President Obama’s birth certificate, saying Wednesday he was “joking.”
Speaking in an interview with Adam C. Smith of the St. Petersburg Times, the Texas governor was asked whether he doubts the validity of Mr. Obama’s birth certificate.
“I don’t think I was expressing doubts,” a smiling Mr. Perry said. “I was just having some fun with Donald Trump.”
“I have no doubt about it,” Mr. Perry added.
The Texas Republican, who has struggling to maintain earlier momentum, said he was not expressing doubts about Mr. Obama’s birthplace when he raised the issue in a series of media interviews. In one he said that the birth certificate issue as “a good issue to keep alive.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Perry refused to answer a reporter’s direct question about whether he believed the president was born in the United States, saying voters remained focus on the economy.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the Perry campaign has offered to release the Texas governor’s own birth records.
“If somebody wants to see my birth certificate, I’d be happy to show it to them,” said Mr. Perry. “But the fact is that this is a distraction, and Americans really don’t care about that, if you want to know the truth of the matter.”
