27 Apr 2011 8:03 pm
(CNN) Now that President Barack Obama has released his long-form birth certificate, real estate mogul and possible presidential candidate Donald Trump is ready for other issuesone of them apparently whether he will pay the investigators he sent to Hawaii to look into the place of Obama's birth.In an interview airing Wednesday on CNN's "John King, USA," Trump asserted, "I don't make up anything," when asked about his earlier claims that Obama's birth certificate could be missing. Still, he is undecided about paying for the sleuths he sent to Hawaii to investigate the issue."Would I pay them? I don't know," he said. "I can say this, let me just tell you, I don't make up anythingI have done a great service to the American people."When pressed on his role in stirring up birther controversy by CNN's Chief National Correspondent John King, Trump downplayed his actions by saying he didn't understand why President Obama didn't release his birth certificate earlier. "I heard everyone wanted to see it and I was the only one that got him to do it," he said."Every time I sit down with the press all they want to talk about is the birth certificate and I got him to do something that nobody else could get him to do and I take great credit for that."Trump responded to the president's motivation for releasing his long form birth certificate as a way to end "silliness" by saying, "We have a president that's incompetentI am a very serious person. I am a person that has made great wealth."Trump, currently in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire for several appearances, says he hasn't seen the long-form birth certificate but now hopes "a lot of experts will analyze it."He indicated that he's ready to move on to other issues, since the place of the president's birth is no longer in question, and affirmed that he's ready to focus on other subjects "like China ripping us off.""I'm really happy that we can finally get on to that subject because that's my strength," he said. "Jobs, the economy, getting OPEC to behave. We have all the powerthey don't respect our leadership," he continued.If there were any doubt on which ticket Trump would run, if he decides to run for president, given his history of cozying up to the reform party in 1999, and later saying the Republicans are too crazy, and the Democrats are too liberal, Trump settled the question."I'm looking to run as a Republican.""I'm doing great in the polls, you know why?" he continued. "Because people in New Hampshire as well as people in the country don't want to be ripped off by a nation that does business with us.""Our leader is incompetent, and people want to see a change and that's why I'm doing it."Trump has convinced at least one key GOP operative that he's not taking a potential bid for the presidency lightly. In an interview with King, Jack Kimball, chairman of the New Hampshire state Republican Party, said he believes Trump's visit to the state is an indication that he's serious about running."Just his appearance here today I think is ominous," he said. "I think he wouldn't have bothered to come here if he wasn't taking the next most serious step toward that decision."VIDEOSo Trump admits that he hasn't yet decided if he's going to stiff the investigators he sent to Hawaii.Nice guy.