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Obama Addresses Trump’s Birther Obsession

Watch the president's full ABC News interview here.

*During an interview with ABC News on Thursday, President Obama was asked about the presidential flirtation of Donald Trump, who has been pushing false information and discredited theories about the president’s birthplace.

Obama said the decision by some Republicans to question whether he was born in the United States is a problem for the GOP in the long term even if it is “politically expedient in the short-term.”

It creates “a problem for them when they want to actually run in a general election where most people feel pretty confident the President was born where he says he was, in Hawaii,” Obama told ABC News. “He — he doesn’t have horns…we’re not really worrying about conspiracy theories or — or birth certificates.”

Obama told ABC News that he believes voters want a presidential candidate to focus on issues like the economy and deficit.

“And my suspicion is that anybody who is not addressing those questions…Is going to be in trouble,” he said. “I think they may get a quick pop in the news. They may get a lot of attention. But ultimately, the American people understand this is a serious, sober time.”

Watch Obama’s full 20-min interview with ABC News below. (Birther answer is at the 14 min. mark.)