The White House last week confirmed that U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) made good on a promise he made in November to formally raise questions of President Obama's birthplace.
According to the White House, the letter arrived on December 10, but neither the staff of the president nor the Georgia congressman seemed excited to discuss its content.
"[Deal] just did what he said he was going to do," Todd Smith, Deal's chief of staff said, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "It's not news."
A White House spokeswoman Gannet Tseggai acknowledged receipt of Deal's letter, but would not release a copy or discuss its content, saying that the issue has been addressed repeatedly.
Barack Obama's camp released a digitally scanned copy of the presidential candidate's birth certificate in the summer of 2008, a document that shows he was born on Aug. 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaiian government officials, as well as independent news organizations, have both concluded that the document is authentic.
In November, however, Rep. Deal decided that it wasn't good enough. "I have looked at the documentation that is publicly available and it leaves many things to be desired," the lawmaker told the AJC.
In the summer of 2009, Republican lawmakers attempted to draw up a bill that would require future presidential candidates to provide a copy of their birth certificates. The bill eventually failed. Nevertheless, it appears that the birther movement won't die.