Joe Arpaio Renews Obama Birther Claims, Repeatedly Snaps at Tapper in Bizarre CNN Interview

CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio this afternoon over his (and Donald Trump‘s) refusal to give up the “preposterous notion” that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States and that his birth certificate was forged.

Arpaio has trafficked in this nonsense for a while, and Donald Trump very famously made this an issue for a while (as recently as this month he said he still doesn’t know if Obama is a citizen).

Tapper didn’t dwell on Trump’s birther beliefs that much, but he did say that is one thing––outside of immigration––where he and Arpaio are in agreement on.

He asked Arpaio why he would risk his credibility on issues like immigration by sticking by this conspiracy theory. Arpaio said, “I don’t care where he came from, we’re working on a fraudulent, forged government document.”

An incredulous Tapper asked Arpaio if any respectable law enforcement official agrees with him on this. Arpaio boasted that he’s willing to look into something that everyone else will shy away from.

In fact, Arpaio said, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to go on national television and make such a claim if he wasn’t absolutely sure of himself.

Watch the video below, via CNN:

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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