Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — as a prominent surrogate for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump — guested on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" on Thursday evening.
Matthews breeched the topic of Trump's ostentatious crusade to find President Barack Obama's birth certificate, and asked Giuliani whether he believed Obama was a natural-born U.S. citizen and, thus, legitimately elected.
"I confirm that and Donald Trump now confirms that," Giuliani responded. "I believe it, he believes it, we all believe it, but it took a long time to get it out."
Asked if and when Trump had ever confirmed that publicly, Giuliani claimed — falsely — "He did that two years ago ... three years ago." He added — again falsely — that Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign originally claimed Obama wasn't a U.S. citizen during the 2008 election cycle.
Amid cross-talk, Giuliani refused Matthews' request that he "commit to your candidate saying within the next 24 hours that President Obama is a legitimate president."
"I'm glad you came on, but I do want to put this to rest," Matthews lectured a giggling Giuliani. "I don't think this is funny."
"We checked this before you came on," Matthews added. "There's absolutely no record ever of Hillary Clinton or anyone in her campaign of ever saying President Obama is not legitimate."
"Her campaign raised it first," Giuliani maintained.
"No. You're wrong," Matthews said.
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