Ex-Hawaii official denounces 'ludicrous' birther claims

Comments follow statements by Donald Trump questioning legitimacy of president's birth record

(By Michael Isikoff, NBC News) - The Hawaiian state health official who personally reviewed Barack Obama's original birth certificate has affirmed again that the document is "real" and denounced "conspiracy theorists" in the so-called "birther" movement for continuing to spread bogus claims about the issue.

"It’s kind of ludicrous at this point," Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the former director of Hawaii's Department of Health, said in a rare telephone interview with NBC.

Fukino, sounding both exasperated and amused, spoke to a reporter in the aftermath of Donald Trump's statements on the NBC 'Today' show last week questioning whether Obama has a legitimate birth certificate.