In May 2011, reporters swarmed now-President Donald Trump as he exited the Hyatt in Washington, DC, after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Many wanted a response from Trump, who had just watched President Obama deliver jokes that night about Trump’s constant questioning of the legitimacy of Obama’s birth certificate.
Over six years later, Trump is still not convinced of the legitimacy of Obama’s birth certificate. But this was perhaps the first of numerous debunked or unverified conspiracy theories that Trump has entertained during his time in the political spotlight.
Throughout the 2016 campaign and while in the White House, Trump has floated theories fueled by the conspiratorial-minded corners of supermarket tabloids and the internet, something unprecedented in modern politics. He’s often used them as weapons against his opponents.
Here are 19 of the most notable conspiracy theories Trump has entertained:
Questions about Ted Cruz’s father’s potential ties to President John F. Kennedy’s assassin.
On the eve of the Indiana primary, Trump attempted to undermine former Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz’s father’s legitimacy by parroting an unverified National Enquirer story.
It claimed Rafael Cruz was photographed in the early 1960s handing out pro-Fidel Castro leaflets with President John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
The Cruz campaign denounced the piece as “garbage.”
Questions about President Obama’s birth certificate.
While mulling a potential 2012 presidential bid, Trump became the most high-profile figure to promote the rumors suggesting that President Obama was not born in the US.
Trump claimed he’d deployed private investigators who “could not believe what they’re finding” about Obama’s place of birth.
He also repeatedly clashed with reporters who pushed him on the issue. During one contentious interview, he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he’d been “co-opted” by “Obama and his minions” when the anchor tried to push back on Trump’s claims.
When Obama eventually released his long-form birth certificate, Trump questioned the document’s authenticity.
Trump has since continued to push the conspiracy theory in recent months during his presidency, according to advisors who spoke with the New York Times. One sitting US senator echoed these reports.
“[Trump] has had a hard time letting go of his claim that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States,” the senator told the Times.
Questions about a former Bill Clinton aide’s suicide.
After Vince Foster, a former aide to President Bill Clinton, was found dead in 1993, various law-enforcement agencies and independent counsels determined he committed suicide.
But Foster’s death spawned conspiracy theorists who questioned whether the Clintons themselves were involved in Foster’s death.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump suggested Foster’s death was “very fishy.”
“He had intimate knowledge of what was going on,” Trump said of Foster’s role in the White House. “He knew everything that was going on, and then all of a sudden he committed suicide.”
He added: “I don’t bring [Foster’s death] up because I don’t know enough to really discuss it. I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I don’t do that because I don’t think it’s fair.”
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