WHOA: Journo claims Sid Blumenthal 'spread the Obama birther rumor' to him; Update: McClatchy sent reporter to Kenya

Sarah D. | 3:17 PM on September 16, 2016

Hillary calls on Trump 2apologize for his birther remarks. Will she apologize 4 her staff spreading that rumor when she ran vs Obama in '08?

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 16, 2016

As Twitchy told you, the ever-shameless Hillary tried to pawn the blame for birtherism off on Donald Trump. And it’s hard to blame her. The woman is growing more and more desperate every single day.

President Obama’s successor cannot and will not be the man who led the racist birther movement. Period.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 16, 2016

Unfortunately for her, James Asher, the former Washington bureau chief for McClatchy, may have thrown a bit of a wrench in her plans:

https://twitter.com/jimasher/status/776607521234685952

https://twitter.com/jimasher/status/776612456135262212

https://twitter.com/jimasher/status/776633213015982080

Oh, my.

Hmm https://t.co/wLkJ7YSIgA

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 16, 2016

That sound you hear is the sound of the plot thickening.

Well Hillary?? https://t.co/wEZxxzRhiD

— beth lanning (@BethLanning) September 16, 2016

Oh Lucy, you got some splainin' to do ???

— Real AnneMarie ? (@RealAnneMarieC) September 16, 2016

I'd love for the Birther issue to go away…but an objective, honest media would at least report on this. pic.twitter.com/A0BNhsjj82

— Jason (@jasonelevation) September 16, 2016

We’ll wait.

***

Update:

FYI, McClatchy's former Washington Bureau Chief has been saying this since at least March. No one noticed until now. pic.twitter.com/VPoHolsoIA

— Jimmy (@JimmyPrinceton) September 16, 2016

***

Update:

Jake Tapper says he’s looking into Asher’s claims:

“During the 2008 Democratic primary, Sid Blumenthal visited the Washington Bureau of McClatchy Co.,” Asher said in an email Friday to McClatchy, noting that he was at the time the investigative editor and in charge of Africa coverage.

“During that meeting, Mr. Blumenthal and I met together in my office and he strongly urged me to investigate the exact place of President Obama’s birth, which he suggested was in Kenya. We assigned a reporter to go to Kenya, and that reporter determined that the allegation was false.

“At the time of Mr. Blumenthal’s conversation with me, there had been a few news articles published in various outlets reporting on rumors about Obama’s birthplace. While Mr. Blumenthal offered no concrete proof of Obama’s Kenyan birth, I felt that, as journalists, we had a responsibility to determine whether or not those rumors were true. They were not.”