Cruz Responds To Trump: Questions About My Citizenship Are ‘Political Noise’

Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a town hall event at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, Wednesday, April 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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This post has been updated.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Wednesday dismissed his presidential rival Donald Trump’s suggestion that his birth certificate could cause him problems in the 2016 election as “political noise.”

In audio captured by MSNBC, Cruz told reporters outside his campaign bus in Iowa, “As a legal matter, the question is quite straightforward and settled law that the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen. People will continue to make political noise about it but as a legal matter it is quite straightforward.”

Though Cruz declined to mention any specific names, Trump told the Washington Post in a Tuesday interview that the Canada-born senator might be ineligible to serve as U.S. president.

“I’d hate to see something like that get in his way,” Trump said. “But a lot of people are talking about it and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport.”

In the U.S., any individual born outside the country who has at least one parent who is an American citizen is considered to be a natural-born citizen.

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Notable Replies

  1. Yes, babies are noisy. Also loud and not rational. And often covered in a mess of their own making. Wait, were we talking about GOP candidates? Oh, well, still true.

  2. I think even my wildly extravagant popcorn supply is going to run short by super-tuesday. I foresee an emergency Costco run in the spring.

  3. TPM:

    Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Wednesday dismissed his presidential rival Donald Trump’s suggestion that his birth certificate could cause him problems in the 2016 election as “political noise.”

    So prove it, Rafael. Show us your momma’s long form birth certificate proving she was born in the US, and not Canada like you were.

  4. The job of the Executive is to administer and enforce the law. The laws governing who is and is not a natural born citizen are very easy to understand. If Trump’s having problems with them ( he isn’t its just more fakery from him ) then he should rethink what he’s up to. If as a wanna be POTUS he’s have difficulty with so simple a statute he’s like a guy wanting to be an Executive Chef but cannot boil water.

  5. Can someone please tell me what a “long form” birth certificate is? I was under the impression there was no such thing and that’s why they were asking Obama to produce one.

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