I am pretty confident where I was born: Barack Obama

WASHINGTON: Refusing to join the debate on his birth place, US President Barack Obama today said he is "shocked" that a question like this would come up at a time when other pressing issues are facing the nation.

"I have no reaction and I'm shocked that a question like that has come up at a time when we have so many other things to do," Obama told reporters in a brief remarks at the White House when asked about the latest controversy that has erupted in the middle of the presidential elections.

"Well, I'm not that shocked actually. It's fairly typical. We got other things to attend to. I was pretty confident about where I was born. I think most people were as well. My hope would be the presidential elect, election reflects more serious issues than that," Obama said.

The controversial issue, which was settled in 2011 when Obama made public his birth certificate from a hospital on Hawaii where he was born, engulfed the 2016 presidential campaign last night when Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, in an interview to The Washington Post said he is unwilling to say that Obama was born in the US.

Less than two hours later, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, slammed Trump for not saying that Obama was born in the US.

By late in the night, the Trump Campaign alleged that the issue questioning the birth place of Obama was first raised by the Clinton Campaign in 2008 when she was running for presidential elections.

The Trump Campaign said that Trump believes that Obama was born in the United States.

However, Trump again refused to confirm when he appeared in an interview before the Fox News today and was asked about it.

"Hillary brought it up during the campaign. It was 2008. She brought it up. And I was the one that was successful in getting him to release his birth certificate," Trump said.

"I'm going to have a big statement made today at the hotel. I'm speaking in front of Medal of Honour winners that endorsed me. I have many Medal of Honour winners who have endorsed me and will be endorsing me today, which I'm very proud of. And I'm going to be making a major statement on this whole thing and what Hillary did," Trump said.

"You watch my statement. We have to keep the suspense going," Trump said.