Hempstead, United States: Hillary Clinton accused her Republican White House rival Donald Trump on Monday of launching his political career by supporting a ‘racist’ theory that questioned Barack Obama’s citizenship.

‘He tried to put the whole racist ‘birther’ lie to bed,’ the Democrat said as the pair clashed in their first presidential debate, referring to Trump’s recent admission that Obama was born in the United States.

‘But it can’t be dismissed that easily. He has really started his political activity based on this racist lie that our first black president was not an American citizen,’ she said.