New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie argued with CNN's Jake Tapper this morning on the role Donald Trump played in peddling the 'birther' conspiracy, suggesting the GOP nominee had already given it up.

'That's just not true he kept it up for five years,' Christie said after Tapper maintained that Trump did not accept the validity of President Obama's long form birth certificate, which the White House released in 2011, and continued making it a political issue.

'It wasn't like he was talking about it on a regular basis,' Christie said.

ABC News, however, counted 67 times where Trump tweeted or retweeted messages questioning Obama's birthplace over the past five years, a fact that Martha Raddatz brought up when asking Indiana Gov. Mike Pence why his running mate took so long to acknowledge the president was an American.

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (right) tussled with CNN's Jake Tapper (left) this morning over whether Donald Trump fueled the 'birther' fire for five years

On Friday, Trump announced that 'President Obama was born in the United States, period.'

The Republican nominee pointed to Hillary Clinton's allies and blamed them for starting the 'birther' controversy when the two Democrats ran against each other in 2007 into 2008.

'I finished it. I finished it,' Trump said of his own role.

On today's Sunday shows a number of Trump's surrogates were asked why the billionaire just now made the announcement and kept bringing the 'birther' issue up.

'The birther issue is a done issue,' Christie said on CNN's 'State of the Union.' I've said it's a done issue for a long time and Donald Trump has said it's a done issue now.'

The New Jersey governor, who is running Trump's transition team, also downplayed the effect believing in birtherism might have on voters.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, talking to ABC News' Martha Raddatz, suggested that voters weren't so interested in the 'birther' story

'I've got to tell you the truth, if you think that anyone is going to vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or against either one of them based upon this issue, then I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the concerns of the American people,' Christie told Tapper. 'Let's move on to the real issues.'

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton's Democratic running mate, expressed why the 'birther' issue was painful to watch for many supporters of the president, especially those of African descent.

'An African-American was not allowed to be a citizen, whether slave or free, born here or born elsewhere, until we fought a civil war and enacted the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution,' Kaine said.

So Trump's embrace of birtherism, Kaine explained, 'reminds people of the most painful part of the history of this country.'

'And I hope that someone will ask Donald Trump, when you were doing that, did you believe it?' Kaine said on ABC's 'This Week.' 'And if you believed it, how could you have been so gullible or conspiratorial or, if you didn't believe it, what were you doing dragging us back to the most painful chapter in American life?'

When Raddatz sat down with Pence she asked the vice presidential hopeful why his running mate took so long to acknowledge that the president was born in the United States.

'Martha, it's a fact. And Donald Trump and I both acknowledge that without hesitation,' Pence answered.

When pressed again, and presented with the 67 times that Trump pushed birtherism on Twitter, Pence – like Trump –pointed fingers at Clinton.

'Well, and I know there's news reports that trace this birther movement all the way back to Hillary Clinton's campaign back in 2008,' he replied.

'You believe that Hillary Clinton started the birther movement?' Raddatz followed up.

'Look, I'll let the facts speak for themselves,' Pence answered.

When asked to provide solid footing pointing Clinton to the birther movement, Pence pivoted and made a similar point to Christie – that the 'birther' issue is not something American voters care about.

'Our campaign just really isn't focused on the past,' Pence said.

Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway appeared on both 'Meet the Press' and 'Face the Nation,' and said that Trump would need to be the one to answer the question when asked why he waited so long to declare Obama an American.

'And so just on this question of trust, Donald Trump advocated something for five years that was a lie. Why did he do that?' asked 'Face the Nation' host John Dickerson.

'Well, you're going to have to ask him,' Conway answered.

'But, again, I think that this is a sideshow now that the media seem obsessed with, John, respectfully. And, again, he put everything out on the table on Friday.'

'Those are his words,' she added. 'He does things on his terms, on his timeline.'



