Donald Trump teases ‘very big news’ about Obama on Wednesday

Real estate tycoon and 'The Apprentice' host vowed to reveal something that could 'possibly' change the election on Wednesday. Trump has openly endorsed Mitt Romney, and challenged the authenticity of Barack Obama's birth certificate in the past.

Gerald Herbert/AP

Donald Trump has promised ‘big news’ about Obama on Wednesday.

The Donald is still trying to trump Obama.
Real estate tycoon and armchair political analyst Donald Trump pushed his way back into the campaign cycle on Monday, promising to disrupt the election with a "very big" revelation about the President on Wednesday.
"Stay tuned for my big Obama announcement," Trump wrote on Twitter, following it up with a later tweet in which he told followers to "just wait and see!"
"It's very big. Bigger than anybody would know," he later told "Fox & Friends," hinting it could "possibly" change the election.
Michael Cohen, an executive at the Trump Organization who serves as special counsel to "The Apprentice" host, declined to shed any more light on the announcement, reiterating only that it would be "very big."

Pool/Getty Images

President Obama took aim at the White House Correspondents Dinner in April.

The move is Trump's latest in a two-year effort to inject himself into the race for the White House, in which he twice flirted with running for office himself and brought the "birther" conspiracy to fever pitch by publicly questioning the existence of Obama's birth certificate.
That confrontation ended with Trump as the butt of many jokes after the President posted his long-form birth certificate on the White House website in April, and then mocked the mogul at the White House Correspondents dinner, suggesting Trump could now focus important issues like "did we fake the moon landing."

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Donald Trump shake hands during a news conference held by Trump to endorse Romney for President in February.

Trump ultimately endorsed Mitt Romney, and his camp says he and the GOP nominee are in close contact.
"Mr. Trump remains an important and strong surrogate of the Governor's," Cohen told the News, adding "they continue to speak on a regular basis."
When asked about Trump's impending "announcement" and his close ties with Romney, a spokesman for the Obama campaign simply sent the Daily News a link to a White House bumper sticker emblazoned with the President's face against his birth certificate and the words "Made in the USA."
Trump might not be the only familiar press-hungry face shaking up the political scene this week.

When asked about Trump’s announcement and his past allegations that the President wasn’t born in the U.S., the Obama campaign responded with a link to this bumper sticker.

Drudge Report creator Matt Drudge suggested on Twitter last week that celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is working on an "October surprise" for Romney, writing, "After all, it's her time of the campaign. Team O at the ready!!"
But Allred is keeping mum at this point, telling the Daily News, "No comment."
Though Trump vows to stay mum on his surprise on Wednesday, he can't seem to stop expressing his opinions on anything and everything via Twitter, where he's racked up nearly 1.6 million followers by weighing in on Chris Brown and Rihanna's relationship, giving advice to "Twilight" actor Rob Pattinson that he "can do much better" than girlfriend Kristen Stewart, bashing the BBC and Yankees slugger A-Rod, and criticizing the way vaccines are administered.
"He does all the tweets himself," Cohen said of Trump's active Twitter habit. "If it's something that's in the news and something that he has knowledge of and a belief in, you can bet your bottom dollar it could certainly wind up Twitter."
The only thing he hasn't tweeted about yet is whether or not he wishes he was running against Obama instead of Romney, but Cohen suggests Trump has no regrets.
"Mr. Trump's popularity is enormous and I'm certain that he would have been formidable in the election process," Cohen said. "But he truly loves what he does, and one thing I can tell you is he's happy where he's at right now." 5 things we learned from the presidential debate

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5 things we learned from the presidential debate

Denver, Colorado (CNN) -- By most accounts, Republican challenger Mitt Romney was the clear winner of Wednesday's first debate with President Barack Obama. Romney engaged the incumbent while Obama looked down at his lectern. The challenger was a more forceful debater while Obama appeared less than engaged.

Here are five things we learned on Wednesday

1. Romney wins by setting the tone

The crucial and tone-setting first 30 minutes of the debate belonged to Romney.

Photos: The first presidential debate

Obama: 'Please elaborate' on health care

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Best 'zingers' from debate night

Romney appeared practiced, at ease, confident and fluent in all things Obama. He aggressively criticized the president's record while also outlining, however vaguely, his own ideas about taxes and the deficit. Obama -- his answers slow, dry and cautious -- looked shaky.

When the sparring turned to taxes -- an issue on which voters trust Obama over Romney, according to polls -- Romney played down legitimate questions about his tax plan and stressed again and again that he wants to reduce taxes on middle income families.

Opinion: Romney shakes up the race

He seized on Vice President Joe Biden's latest verbal miscue about how the middle class has been "buried" by the policies of the last four years.

"Under the president's policies, middle-income Americans have been buried," Romney said. "They're just being crushed. Middle income Americans have seen their income come down by $4,300. This is a tax in and of itself. I'll call it the economy tax. It's been crushing."

Obama had a chance to brush his opponent back by hammering home the fact that Romney has been strikingly vague in explaining just how he would pay for an across the board 20% tax cut without cutting cherished tax deductions.

Fact Check: Does repealing Obamacare hike seniors' drug costs?

Instead, a lethargic Obama veered into a plodding, numbers-based criticism of Romney's tax plan that was a far cry from his campaign trail rallying cries about how Republicans favor the rich.

Obama's performance in the first part of the debate called to mind a segment on "The Daily Show" in the early days of the Obama administration, when Jon Stewart teased the newly burdened president's press conferences as boring and uninspiring -- a far cry from the inspirational figure of 2008.

Romney entered the encounter with Obama battered, weary and under fire from his fellow Republicans. At the end of the night, he stood on equal footing in a 90-minute debate with the president of the United States. That's a win.

Candidates hit campaign trail after Romney's strong debate

2. Romney holds his own

It was the biggest question coming into this first showdown: Could Romney seem presidential standing next to the Obama?

The answer appears to be yes.

CNN Focus Group: Best moments

CNN Focus Group: Worst moments

Analyst: Election now 'a horse race'

Rubio: Obama uncomfortable at debate

"He held his own against the president of the United States, and for a Republican challenger that's pretty good," commented CNN's Wolf Blitzer, chief anchor of the network's political coverage.

"Romney at least held his own on the big questions: On the economy and the role of government," added CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. "When you're the challenger and you at least hold your own with the president of the United States in the very first debate, you walk off the stage happy."

Opinion: It wasn't just Romney who won

Romney's campaign was thrilled with its candidate's performance.

"If it was a boxing match, it would have been called," said Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to the former Massachusetts governor. "I've got to believe that the heels on the president's shoes are worn down from being back on them for 90 minutes."

As you can imagine, the Obama campaign saw the debate very differently.

"(Romney) was on defense all night long," said David Plouffe, a senior adviser to the president.

It appears debate watchers think Romney passed the test every challenger faces in trying to stand with an incumbent president. According to a CNN/ORC International poll conducted right after the session, 67% of debate watchers questioned said that Romney won. One in four said Obama was victorious.

25 funniest tweets about the debate

3. Missed opportunities

Heading into the debate, there was a belief, an expectation that Obama would challenge Romney on the infamous 47% remark in an attempt to paint the former Massachusetts governor as a cold-hearted patrician with little empathy for the middle class and poor. If executed correctly, it could have put Romney on defense and changed the tenor of the debate.

Obama didn't do it, which turned out to be a major mistake.

Nor did the president question Romney on why he wouldn't release more details about his taxes. Another opportunity lost in an effort to try and portray Romney as being an out-of-touch elitist.

Obama's failure to take the fight to Romney and the challenger's ability to dictate the tone and speed of the debate helped Romney win.

Opinion: Romney wasn't stellar, Obama fell short

The narrative heading into the evening was that Romney's campaign was listing and in serious need of a win. To Romney's credit, he never blamed his staff for problems that beset his campaign over the past few weeks and he was the one who righted the ship.

Romney made the case that he was in the race to help the middle class at the same time advocating a government that was more business friendly. Romney's repeated references to business -- particularly his pledge to help small businesses -- opened a door for Obama to bring in the former Massachusetts governor's time at Bain Capital. It was never brought up.

Romney's strong performance comes at a critical time as conservatives have been openly criticizing his campaign and poll numbers in key battleground states such as Ohio were trending toward Obama.

Romney played offense, while Obama was forced to play defense. With 33 days until Election Day -- you don't want to be on defense.

At crossroads of economic crisis, debate disappoints

4. Body language matters

Sometimes how a candidate looks is more important than what he says.

That may have been the case in the first presidential debate, in which Romney often looked more at ease than Obama. When speaking, Romney often looked directly at Obama, while the president mainly looked at the moderator or the cameras when he was speaking. And Obama looked down quite often while Romney was speaking.

"The president could barely look at Mitt Romney, which was interesting. He really wouldn't engage with him, where as Romney would take the president on, on every issue." said CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger.

While Romney's body language seemed energetic, the president's body language was just the opposite. He seemed a bit irritated.

Fact Check: Job creation versus unemployment

"I don't think anyone's ever spoken to him like that over the last four years. I think he found that not only surprising but offensive. It looked like he was angry at times," added CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen, who has advised both Democratic and Republican presidents.

While Romney took part in nearly 20 GOP primary debates this cycle, Obama has not participated in a debate in four years. And it showed.

"Participating in so many Republican primary debates helped Mitt Romney. He was, right from the beginning, more comfortable debating. The president was rusty as a debater. He hasn't done this in four years." King said.

Senior Obama campaign advisers disagreed, saying that it was Romney who appeared ill at ease.

"People at home saw (Romney) get testy, interrupt the moderator," Obama campaign deputy communications director Stephanie Cutter told CNN.

"My thought is that you're going to find that people watching at home thought he was quite testy," Plouffe added.

Read the transcript of the first presidential debate

5. Chris Christie vindicated

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie bothered the heck out of Romney-world last Sunday when he shirked the expectations game and stated flatly that the GOP nominee would deliver an earthquake of debate performance that would turn the presidential race "upside down."

Not on message in the slightest. But it turns out Christie might have been right.

In the post-debate spin room, the very same Romney backers who were hyper-cautious heading into Wednesday night's debate were suddenly sounding a lot like Christie.

"Chris Christie is quite the prognosticator," said Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom.

Fact Check: Oil and natural gas production under Obama

South Dakota Sen. John Thune said Romney assuaged the Republican concerns about his candidacy -- and then some.

"I think this was a make or break moment for the Romney campaign and he delivered," Thune told reporters. "This is a whole new ball game."

One high-ranking Romney adviser also acknowledged what no one on their team would admit prior the debate: That a poor showing Wednesday could have derailed Romney's candidacy.

"We needed a big performance and we got a big performance," the adviser told CNN. "There's a lot of relief right now."

After the debate concluded, Christie adviser Bill Palatucci made sure to plug his boss.

"Only Chris Christie had the guts to say what he really thought -- that Mitt would shine," Palatucci told CNN in an email.

Mitt Romney’s darkest hour

Mitt Romney’s darkest hour The release of a recording of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney at a private fundraiser in May telling donors that “there are 47 percent of the people…who are dependent on government, who believe that they are the victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them…I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives” is the latest body blow for a campaign that can’t seem to get out of its own way of late.
Consider what has happened to Romney since the Democrats concluded their convention in Charlotte earlier this month:
* The release of a Romney polling memo that seemed decidedly defensive over the idea of a convention bounce for the incumbent.
* A too-quick statement regarding the tumult in Libya that polling suggests was not looked on favorably by the voting public.
* A Politico story laying bare strife within the campaign that hit Sunday night.
And now comes this video tape featuring Romney offering a blunt assessment of his economic worldview to a group of wealthy donors — an assessment that is more candid, more calculating and more conservative than the GOP nominee has been in public.
Taken individually, none of the incidents referenced above are that big a deal in the constant swirl of politics. Taken together, they paint an image of a campaign in disarray and a candidate not ready for primetime. Context always matters in politics and the context in which this videotape has landed is just plain awful for Romney’s campaign.
Before we get too much further, it’s worth taking a step back to say that there is little evidence that missteps — whether minor or major — have an obvious and immediate impact on polling in this race.
Thanks to our friend John Sides at the Monkey Cage Blog, we have evidence of that lack of movement here:

So, it’s worth taking the immediate analysis of what it all means for Romney — including this one — cum grano salis.
Caveats dispatched, we do think there are at least two real impacts of Romney’s brutal past two weeks — even if they are not evident in polling.
The first — and most important — is that this story will serve as a major distraction for a Romney campaign who just today announced its plans to re-boot itself by offering more specifics on what he would do on the economy if elected president.
“We do think the timing is right to reinforce more specifics about the Romney plan for a strong middle class,” senior Romney adviser Ed Gillespie told reporters on a conference call Monday morning that now seems like a millenium ago.
Whether or not you believe Romney offered a window into his true feelings about the election (and the electorate) in the leaked video from the fundraiser (and we will leave that up to others to decide), it’s impossible to see how Romney’s comments don’t dominate the political conversation for the next 48-72 hours — and maybe longer.
That reality virtually ensures a second straight week lost to off-message stories that are far afield from the economic focus that the Romney campaign is hoping to lean on in the final weeks of the race.  Mitt Romney isn’t going to win this race on foreign policy and he certainly isn’t going to win it on too-candid comments about his view of the economic realities present in the electorate. Any one — Republican, Democrat or Independent — who tells you differently is just wrong.
Wasting two weeks when there are only seven weeks left in a race that even the most loyal Republicans acknowledge they are currently losing — albeit it narrowly — is a major problem for Romney.
The second way the leaked video impacts the race is that it fuels the “gang who can’t shoot straight” narrative that Politico began with its story and that the Romney campaign was hoping to quickly extinguish with its conference call Monday morning.
If donors and other political professionals were skittish about where the race generally — and Romney’s bid specifically — stood on Monday morning, you can imagine they will be worked up into a full lather by Tuesday morning.
The video will fuel the growing sentiment within the Republican chattering class that Romney is in the process of losing a winnable race. That means the second-guessing that goes on privately in every campaign will go more public. And the more public it becomes, the longer it takes Romney and his team to move beyond unhelpful process stories focused on whether his own party thinks he’s blowing it.
To be clear: Declaring the race over — as some people will do in the next 48 hours — is a mistake. Seven weeks remain before voters vote and what looks determinative to the outcome now might look very different come November 1.
But, anyone who thinks that Romney isn’t weathering his darkest days as a candidate right now would be sorely mistaken.

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