Romney clinches nomination but talk is centered on Trump
Mogul revives questions about Obama’s birthplace
Romney campaign defends decision to attend fundraiser in Las Vegas with Trump, who renews question of Obama’s birth certificate.
Mitt Romney finally clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, but all the chatter around his campaign was about Donald Trump.
Romney has been without a major competitor in the Republican race since former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum dropped out in April, but the Texas primary provided the 58 delegates he needed to reach the magic number: the 1,144 delegates required to secure the nomination.
“I am humbled to have won enough delegates to become the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee,” Romney said.
Romney wasn’t in Texas on Tuesday, and instead of celebrating the ceremonial victory, his campaign spent the day defending his decision to appear at a fundraiser in Las Vegas with Trump, who used the occasion to renew his questions about President Obama’s birth certificate.
Trump has donated $2,500 to Romney’s presidential campaign this cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records, and has repeatedly insisted President Obama was not born in the USA.
The Obama campaign attacked Romney for not publicly denouncing Trump’s theories and released a Web video contrasting Romney’s silence with clips of McCain correcting supporters who made similar comments about Obama during the 2008 campaign.
“Mitt Romney’s continued embrace of Donald Trump and refusal to condemn his disgraceful conspiracy theories demonstrates his complete lack of moral leadership,” Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said.
In a post on Twitter hours before the fundraiser, Trump reiterated his views. Obama “is practically begging (Romney) to disavow the place of birth movement, he is afraid of it and for good reason. He keeps using (Sen. John McCain) as an example, however, (McCain) lost the election,” Trump wrote. “Don’t let it happen again.”
Asked about his association with Trump on Monday, Romney told reporters he doesn’t endorse everything his supporters say.
“You know I don’t agree with all the people who support me, and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in, but I need to get 50.1% or more, and I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people,” Romney said.
The Romney campaign has said repeatedly that Romney believes Obama was born in the United States.
In an interview Tuesday with CNN, Trump said he does not discuss his beliefs about Obama’s birth certificate with Romney.