Michelle Obama jabs at Trump’s ‘birther’ conspiracy while stumping for Clinton

Michelle Obama took an indirect shot on Friday at the Donald Trump-backed “birther” conspiracy at a Hillary Clinton campaign rally in Fairfax, Va.

Obama didn’t mention Trump’s name, but it was clear she was discussing Trump, Clinton’s Republican rival, who earlier in the day Friday finally backed off the discredited claim that President Barack Obama’s U.S. birth certificate is fraudulent and that he was ineligible for the presidency.

Reflecting on the uncertainty voters felt in 2008, the first lady recalled that many people had questions about “what kind of president Barack would be.”

And then, she continued, “There were those who questioned and continue to question, for the past eight years, up through this very day, whether my husband was even born in this country.”

The comment elicited loud boos from the crowd of Clinton supporters at George Mason University.

“During his time in office, I think Barack has answered those questions with the example he set. By going high when they go low,” she said.

Trump became the leading champion of the “birther movement” back in 2011, when he repeatedly raised questions about Obama’s birthplace while mulling his own bid for the White House. He ultimately decided not to run in 2012.

During his 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly dodged questions about whether Obama was born in the U.S. On Thursday night, the Washington Post published a new interview in which Trump again ducked a question on the topic, leading his campaign to announce hours later that Trump no longer doubted the details of Obama’s birth.

“President Barack Obama was born in the United States,” Trump subsequently affirmed Friday during a bizarre press conference at his new hotel in Washington, D.C.

Earlier in the day, President Obama himself chastised reporters for asking questions about Trump’s previously relentless refusal to acknowledge his natural-born citizenship.

“I was pretty confident about where I was born,” he said. “I think most people were as well, and my hope would be that the presidential election reflects more serious issues than this.”