A years-long forensics investigation into the computer image of the long-form Hawaiian birth certificate image that Barack Obama released during a White House news conference during his first term and presented to the American people as an official government document concluded it is "fake."
The probe also confirms that those who were subjected to the derogatory "birther" label from many media outlets and Democrats were right - at least regarding the document used to establish Obama's eligibility to be president.
The issue is that the U.S. Constitution requires the president to be a "natural-born citizen" but does not define the term. Scholarly works cited by the Founders defined it as a citizen at birth, born in the country to two citizens of the country, or merely the offspring of two citizens of the country.
The birth certificate Obama displayed on the White House website as "proof positive" of his eligibility states he was born in Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father.
Some immediately pointed out alleged anomalies, questioning its validity, while others argued it also could prove his ineligibility because his father was not a citizen. Some of the lawsuits argued Obama was a dual citizen at birth through his father, contending the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born citizens.
Eventually, just as the No. 1 bestseller "Where's The Birth Certificate?" was combining with a challenge from billionaire businessman Donald Trump to force Obama's hand, Obama held a White House news conference to release a copy of his birth certificate.
Now, what has been described as the only official law enforcement investigation ever done into the Obama birth certificate, ordered by Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, has concluded it is "not authentic."
See a video prepared by the investigators and released at a news conference on Thursday.
Jerome Corsi, Ph.D., WND senior staff writer and author of "Where's the Birth Certificate?" was credited by sheriff's officials with contributing to the investigation.
Corsi said Mike Zullo, head of the Cold Case Posse, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio "have done the United States a heroic service demonstrating by forensic analysis that the long form birth certificate produced in a White House news conference on April 27, 2011, as Barack Obama's authentic birth certificate is a forgery."
"The nine points of forgery between the Johanna Ah'nee birth certificate and Obama's [long-form birth certificate] prove convincingly that the Ah'nee birth certificate was the source document from which the Obama LFBC was created.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Jerome Corsi
Corsi said Arpaio's five-year effort "vindicates the extensive research WND conducted over years to bring this issue to the attention of the American public." "The inescapable conclusion is that the Hawaii Department of Health has not shown the American public the original 1961 birth records for Barack Obama, if they actually exist," he said.
"That President Obama's birth certificate is fake, as proven now by a legitimate law enforcement examination raises serious questions that high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed at the highest level of government. The clear conclusion is that the Obama presidency may have been illegitimate, having violated Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution. Impeachment procedures may be required, even if those procedures are conducted after Obama leaves office."
The sheriff's video said there were nine images on the Obama birth certificate that appear to be identical to, and copied from, another birth certificate issued in Hawaii just days after his birth.
That certificate belongs to Johanna Ah'nee.
The copied items include the word "Honolulu," "Oahu" twice, three different Xs. Their identical nature raised serious questions since they would have been applied to original documents by moving a typewriter carriage and roller at the time, a left date stamp and a right date stamp.
Explained the investigator on the video:
Doesn't it just make sense that Alvin Onaka's stamp and the April 25th date stamp were lifted from someplace also? Ask yourself this question. If anyone presented you with a document in your life that was this suspect would you readily accept it or would you begin an intense vetting, be it a house title, a car title, a piece of currency, anything? Would you accept something this suspect if presented to you in your life? If you answered no, then ask yourself a second question, don't the American people have a right to vet the documents that they are presented by public officials.
One of the experts who assisted in the investigation was Reed Hayes, a court-qualified handwriting and document examiner, who runs a business in Hawaii. He is on the board of the Scientific Association of Forensic Examiners and has been in business nearly 40 years.
Forlabs, an Italian company that specializes in extracting information from multimedia files, also produced the results.
"We had two experts from two countries in separate disciplines of forensics that came to one conclusion: Barack Obama's long form birth certificate it not authentic," the report said.
Zullo, Arpaio's lead investigator, said the "only reason why this investigation went forward and never came to a close was because of Sheriff Joe Arpaio."
"Sheriff Arpaio utilized his statutory right to confirm his authority to conduct this investigation," he said. "As a result, this investigation was done with the utmost of professionalism, unbiased and with no political motivation. We let the evidence direct the investigation."
He pointed out that Arpaio and others on his team started out with the assumption that Obama's document was legitimate and they just needed to affirm that.
"Every attempt was exercised to try to clear this document as authentic. However, the evidence and the weight of it simply would not permit that," Zullo said.
During the news conference, Zullo quoted from the investigation of Hayes: "The (nail in the coffin) that proves that Certificate of Live Birth is inauthentic is the exact lineup of numerous entries on both [certificates]."
He said the experts likened the evidence to being as reliable as a fingerprint.
Zullo said there also were indications of problems when he interviewed Hawaiian officials about the document. He said they verified there was a birth record on file, but Hawaii statutes allow amendments to a birth document, so there is no way to know the details.
Regarding the birth announcements in local newspapers, there is a problem, he said.
"They don't tell you anything. Hawaii says the Department of Health in Hawaii must create a record based on the representation from anyone."
The local hospital also refused to help, he said.
"We have no idea what's on that birth certificate. We have no idea if there was a birth certificate," he said. "We don't know if he's a natural born citizen. That wasn't anything we were pursuing."
He noted that the safety paper appearing in the birth certificate image can even be purchased on Ebay.
Sheriff Arpaio added, "Five years ago I said one thing, show us the microfiche, the birth certificate and we'll all go home.
"I plan on turning over this investigation this month to the federal government. And Congress. And hope Congress No. 1 will pass a law, the president should be vetted. Common sense.
"Maybe some members of Congress will hold some hearings, open to the public regarding this matter. ... If they can hold hearings ... on underinflated footballs, why can't you hold one on this?
"Look at our evidence, just look at it," he concluded. "I'm going tell you right now, we're not going to answer any questions. We have sensitive information, but I'm not going into it."
But he called it a "fake, fake, birth certificate."
The evidence
The sheriff's office concluded: "It is the opinion of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office that the birth certificate on your right, belonging to Johanna Ah'nee, was in fact used as a source document in the digital creation of Barack Obama's long form birth certificate."
The video notes nine points of "forgery."
"What are the odds that two stamps in two separate boxes stamped by hand ... days apart would have the exact same angle?" the investigators ask.
"It should be pointed out these stamps were looked at by two separate document examiners in two forensic disciplines on two continents," the video explains.
The investigators went further in their analysis, finding twin sisters whose birth certificates are similar to Ah-nee's.
While they were born minutes apart their documents have variations that are not found between Ah'nee's and Obama's, who were born weeks apart.
"When you have two separate documents with two hand-placed stamps at the same angles, obviously a forgery has taken place," the investigators said.
Ironically, the New York Post on Thursday posted a plea by celebrities to electors to not vote for Trump because they instead should support a man "with the requisite qualifications" when the investigation reveals the man who has been president for eight years has yet to document his qualifications.
On that issue, a coalition of mostly lesser-known celebrities appealed for 37 "conscientious Republican electors" to abandon their oaths to support the Republican winner and vote for someone else.
Even if such as extraordinary and unlikely move was successful, it still wouldn't deny Trump the presidency, since it would then just throw the election to the House of Representatives, where members would have only the choice of Trump or Hillary Clinton.
WND reported when the news conference was announced how the issue had badgered Obama from before his first inauguration until well into his second term. Now, apparently, it's raining on his legacy.
WND reported Obama explained he decided to release it because the Internet "chatter" was becoming a "distraction."
At the time, the Washington Times described Obama as "visibly frustrated" and noted that a recent CBS News-New York Times poll showed 45 percent of registered Republican voters believe Obama was not born in the U.S.
"I know that there's going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest, but I'm speaking to the vast majority of the American people," Obama said then. "We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do. I've got better stuff to do."
His statement came just was he was departing for Chicago to appear on Oprah Winfrey's television show.
But while the issue became known in liberal and left-leaning circles as the biggest "conspiracy" theory of all time, some document experts questioned the validity of the birth certificate Obama released. Arpaio responded to a petition from his constituents by launching a formal "Cold Case Posse" law enforcement investigation of the document.
In 2012, Arpaio held a news conference that concluded there was probable cause to believe the document Obama released as an official government document is a computer-generated forgery.
Arapaio, known for his strict enforcement of immigration laws, commissioned the investigative team after local citizens presented him with a petition expressing concern that Obama might not be eligible for Arizona's presidential ballot.
Mike Zullo, Arpaio's lead investigator, said at the time his team believed the Hawaii Department of Health engaged in a systematic effort to hide from public inspection any original 1961 birth records it may have in its possession.
The sheriff even deputized preacher, pastor, author, radio host and former law enforcement officer Carl Gallups of the PPSIMMONS blog in his pursuit of the truth.
"This investigation and its forensic conclusions in my opinion will vindicate a lot of people. That vindication includes the sheriff and his investigator of course but also president-elect Donald Trump. It also vindicates millions of Americans who dared to ask questions about this nefarious birth certificate and have been lampooned and marginalized by certain members of the press and other operatives for doing so. The investigation also vindicates those in the press who did have the guts to speak to this and to spend time investigating it, like WND," Gallups said.
"I have a feeling that this matter is not over. Not by a long shot. I cannot imagine that authorized federal authorities will now not step in and investigate this matter to its conclusion.
"The potential ramifications of the findings of this investigation are astounding. Perhaps historical," he said.
The Cold Case Posse advised Arpaio at that time they believed forgers committed two crimes. First, they said it appeared the White House fraudulently created a forgery that it characterized as an officially produced governmental birth record. Second, the White House fraudulently presented to the residents of Maricopa County and to the American public at large a forgery represented as "proof positive" of President Obama's authentic 1961 Hawaii long-form birth certificate.
The investigators also said they had developed credible evidence that Obama's Selective Service card was a forgery, based on an examination of the postal date stamp on the document. Also, records of Immigration and Naturalization Service cards filled out by passengers arriving on international flights originating outside the United States in the month of August 1961, examined at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., were missing records for the week of President Obama's birth.
Arpaio said then a "continuing investigation" was needed, and his investigators set to work.
'Preposterous notion'
WND reported in 2015 when the issue was raised in a CNN interview in which anchor Jake Tapper excoriated Arpaio for questioning Obama's document.
See the interview:
On CNN's "The Lead," Tapper said, "You've trafficked in this rather preposterous notion that Obama was not born in the United States and that he may have forged his birth certificate that he released."
He continued, "Why would you risk your credibility on issues you care about - like illegal immigration, like law enforcement - by getting involved in this nonsense?"
"What do you mean 'risk'?" Arpaio asked. "I'm the chief law enforcement officer elected by the people. I have a right to investigate and speak out. I'm not talking about where he came from. I don't care where he came from. We're working on a fraudulent, forged government document. That's what we are doing."
Tapper interjected, "You're maintaining that the birth certificate that the president of the United States revealed and released to the public, you're maintaining that that is fraudulent?"
"That's right," Arpaio responded.
The CNN host asked, "Is there anyone, any credible law enforcement person outside of you and your organization and your contractors, who has any agreement with you on this?"
"No, they haven't looked at it," Arpaio said. "What, are you kidding? I'm probably the only law enforcement official who has looked into it. Nobody looks into it. They shy away from it."
Once again, a flustered Tapper interrupted: "Because the president was born in Hawaii."
"I don't care where he was born," Arpaio replied. "I'm talking about a fraudulent government document, a birth certificate. That's all I'm concerned with. That's a violation of the law."
Previously, Arpaio affirmed he was "pretty well convinced" Obama's birth certificate, as released by the White House in 2011, is a "fraudulent, fake document."
"I've been in law enforcement 55 years," Arpaio told "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio." "I think I know a fraudulent, fake document. I'm not a computer expert. I rely on my people. But I'm pretty well convinced it's a fake document."
But Zullo has indicated the White House computer image of Obama's birth certificate contains anomalies that are unexplainable unless the document had been fabricated piecemeal by human intervention, rather than being copied from a genuine paper document.
Zullo has noted that Reed Hayes, a document examiner who has served as expert witness for Seattle law firm Perkins Coie - the firm that flew an attorney to Honolulu to personally deliver two paper copies of the birth certificate to the White House - has concluded in a signed affidavit that the document posted on the White House website is "entirely fabricated."
The issue was complicated by Hawaiian officials refusing to verify any information about Obama's birth certificate. Even the hospital where Obama said he was born refused to cooperate.
Also, at the time Obama was born, only a short time after Hawaii was admitted as a state, there were a number of ways a Hawaiian birth certificate could have been obtained without the person having been born in Hawaii.
Americans skeptical
Six years into Obama's administration, WND reported a poll revealed nearly one-quarter of American adults didn't even believe he's a U.S. citizen, let alone a "natural-born citizen," and another 17 percent were unsure.
Rasmussen Reports found 41 percent of Republicans believed Obama is not an American citizen, a belief shared by 21 percent of those who are unaffiliated and 11 percent of Democrats.
"Just over 20 percent of Republicans and unaffiliated adults also are not sure, but only 7 percent of those in the president's party share that doubt," the polling organization said in a report titled "Have We Got A Conspiracy for You - 9/11? JFK? Obama's Citizenship?"
Overall, 23 percent said the theory that Obama is not an American citizen is true, and another 17 percent said they weren't sure. Sixty percent reject the theory as false.
Ironically, in recent months it's been, Obama, his wife Michelle, Secretary of State John Kerry and even his former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who have raised the issue over and over.
It was during an appearance in Nairobi, Secretary of State John Kerry said he thanked the Kenyan president for giving America "a president of the United States" - a comment alluding to the contested issue of where Obama was born.
Get a commemorative "Where's the Birth Certificate?" T-shirt - sure to be a collector's item.
Kerry told Kenya's foreign minister he had a conversation with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta concerning the Olympic Games in Rio and President Obama's birthplace:
I had the pleasure of beginning that meeting [with Kenyatta], as I want to begin this press conference this afternoon, by congratulating Kenya on something no nation's athletes have ever before accomplished, and that is to win both the men's and the women's marathon races at the Olympic Games. Absolutely extraordinary. When I mentioned that to President Kenyatta, he promptly said to me, "Well, we also had a hand in helping you win a silver because the person who won came from Kenya." (Laughter.)Obama himself raised the question at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, during an address in which he urged Americans to elect Clinton.
"And I said, "Actually, Mr. President, you did better than a silver and a gold. You gave us a president of the United States." (Laughter.) So you can see we had a very friendly and positive beginning to the conversation.
"You know, there's been a lot of talk in this campaign about what America's lost - people who tell us that our way of life is being undermined by pernicious changes and dark forces beyond our control," Obama said. "They tell voters there's a 'real America' out there that must be restored. This isn't an idea that started with Donald Trump. It's been peddled by politicians for a long time - probably from the start of our Republic.
"And it's got me thinking about the story I told you 12 years ago tonight, about my Kansas grandparents and the things they taught me when I was growing up. They came from the heartland; their ancestors began settling there about 200 years ago. I don't know if they had their birth certificates, but they were there."
The mention of "birth certificates," which prompted laughter and cheers from the crowd, was a deviation from the president's prepared remarks, and comes just two nights after his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, brought up the issue of her husband's citizenship and faith during her speech to the DNC.
At that time, Michelle Obama said one of her jobs in the White House was to teach her daughters "to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith."
She was referencing the challenges to her husband's constitutional qualification for office as a "natural born citizen."
Hillary Clinton "went birther" during a campaign appearance in Charlotte, North Carolina when she tweeted, "Someone who has never forgotten where he came from. And Donald, if you're out there tweeting: It's Hawaii." - Hillary on @POTUS
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