Trump plays birther card at Bachmann campaign event

Business mogul Donald Trump used the opportunity of speaking at Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's "tele-townhall" event Monday to say "someone should analyze" President Barack Obama's birth certificate.

During an answer to a question about China, Trump noted that he had been at the top of the polls when he decided not to seek the Republican nomination.

"When I left the race, I was so disappointed in the mistakes the Republican Party was making," Trump declared. "As Michele will tell you, I was leading in the polls. I didn't understand why somebody didn't pick up what I was saying about China, about OPEC."

"And that's why I was leading, not just the birth certificate -- which I'm very proud of. I got this guy to do something that he didn't want to do. And somebody should continue to analyze that whole deal, by the way."

Bachmann followed up that answer by praising the billionaire.

"We have Donald Trump on live," she said. "We can't thank him enough. We want to be respectful of his time. He's admired and respected."

Later in the call, Trump again turned his attention the the president.

"You know, interestingly and I've been saying it's very hard if you are a very successful person and you've done lots of deals, hundreds of deals and made great fortunes, and done a really great job, it's almost impossible -- it's very hard to be elected," he complained.

"Whereas Obama did one deal. You know what the deal was? His house. And you ought to look into that deal, for all of the press that's listening tonight. Because that deal was very, very shaky at best. And I don't mean shaky in a positive sense. I mean, that deal should be really looked into. That was the one deal he did. And he had no experience. He didn't have the experience to be president. And that's what's happening with the country."

This audio is from Rep. Michele Bachmann, uploaded Oct. 17, 2011.

Download MP3 audio file

Photo: Flickr/republicanconference